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72 lines
2.5 KiB
72 lines
2.5 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
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<html>
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>What is the GNU-Project?</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>What is the GNU project?</h1>
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<div id="introduction">
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<div class="image">
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<img src="/graphics/heckert_gnu.small.png" alt="GNU head" />
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</div>
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<p>The <a href="http://www.gnu.org">GNU project</a> was launched in
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September 1983 by Richard M. Stallman to create a complete operating
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system which is <a href="/freesoftware/freesoftware.html">Free Software</a>.
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Software development work started the following January. Today we have
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several Free Software operating systems which respect the users' freedom
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by giving everybody the right to use, study, share and improve the
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software for any purpose.</p>
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</div>
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<p>
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Stallman established the Free Software Foundation in October 1985 to
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assist administrative, legal, and organisational aspects of the GNU
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project and also to spread the use and knowledge of Free Software.
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The main licences of the GNU project are the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public
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License (GPL)</a> and the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html">GNU Lesser General Public License</a> (LGPL,
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originally called GNU Library General Public License). Over the years
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they have become established as the most widely used licences for Free
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Software.
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</p>
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<p>
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The GNU project consists of numerous smaller sub-projects maintained
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by volunteers or businesses or combinations of the two. These
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sub-projects themselves are also called "GNU projects" or "GNU
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packages."
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</p>
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<p>
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The name of the GNU project is derived from the recursive acronym
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"GNU's Not Unix." Unix was a very popular operating system in the
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80s, so Stallman designed GNU to be mostly compatible with Unix so
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that it would be convenient for people to migrate to GNU. The name
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acknowledges that GNU learned from Unix's technical design, but also
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importantly notes that they are unrelated. Unlike Unix, GNU is Free
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Software.
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</p>
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<p>
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Being Unix-like, GNU is modular in design. This means that third
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party components can be inserted into GNU. Today, it is very common
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for people to use a third party kernel called Linux with GNU systems.
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Many people use the name "Linux" for this variant of GNU, but this
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prevents people from hearing of the GNU project and its goal of
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software freedom. FSFE asks people to use the term "GNU/Linux" or
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"GNU+Linux" when refering to such systems.
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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