GNU Project

The GNU Project (English:), also translated as the Genuine Project , is a free software collective collaboration project that was publicly launched by Richard Stallman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on September 27, 1983 . Its goal is to create a completely free operating system called GNU . Richard Stallman first announced the news on the net.unix-wizards news group, along with a " GNU Manifesto " and other articles explaining why the project was launched. One of the reasons was to "reproduce the cooperation in the software industry of the past." A spirit of solidarity that helps each other.”

The GNU project's logo is the head of a wildebeest

GNU is the recursive abbreviation of " GNU is Not U nix" . To avoid confusion with the word gnu (an African wildebeest, pronounced the same as "new"), Stallman announced that GNU should be pronounced "Guh-NOO" (/ˈgnuː/), which is similar to "canoe". Among them, Emacs was hatched from this plan.

UNIX is the name of a widely used commercial operating system. Since GNU will implement the interface standard of UNIX systems, the GNU project can develop different operating systems separately. The GNU project adopted some software that was already freely available at the time, such as the TeX typesetting system and the X Window window system. However, the GNU project has also developed a large number of other free software, which have also been ported to other operating system platforms, such as Microsoft Windows , BSD family, Solaris and Mac OS .

To ensure that GNU software can be freely "used, copied, modified, and distributed," all GNU software contains a license that grants all rights to anyone without prohibiting others from adding any restrictions, the GNU General Public License . (GNU General Public License, GPL). This is a concept known as " public copyright ." GNU also provides two agreement terms , the GNU Lesser General Public License and the GNU Free Documentation License, for different occasions .

Origin

In 1985, Richard Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation to provide technical, legal, and financial support for the GNU Project. Although the GNU project is mostly made up of voluntary unpaid contributions by individuals, the FSF sometimes hires programmers to help write it. When the GNU project began to gain success, some commercial companies began to get involved in development and technology. The most famous of them is Cygnus Solutions , which was later merged by Red Hat .

By 1990, the GNU project had developed software including a powerful text editor Emacs , the C language compiler GCC , and most UNIX system libraries and tools. The only important component that remains unfinished is the operating system's kernel (called HURD ).

In 1991, Linus Torvalds wrote a UNIX-compatible Linux operating system kernel and released it under the GPL . Linux has since spread widely on the Internet. In 1992, Linux was combined with other GNU software, and a completely free operating system was officially born. Many programmers have participated in the development and modification of Linux, and often use Linux as a platform for developing GNU Project software. The operating system is often called " GNU/Linux " or simply Linux . However, Linux itself is not part of the GNU Project. The GNU Project's own kernel Hurd is still under development and a Beta version has been released.

GNU software is also installed on many UNIX systems because the quality of GNU software is even better than previous UNIX software. GNU tools have also been extensively ported to Windows and Mac OS .

The GNU Project has been a major influence on software development for more than ten years, creating countless important tools, such as powerful compilers , powerful text editors, and even a full-featured operating system. This project originated from the idea of MIT programmer Richard Stallman in 1984, who wanted to build a free operating environment similar to UNIX. Since then, many programmers have gathered together to develop a free, high-quality, easy-to-understand software.

declaration

Entry: GNU Manifesto

spokesman

The following are official spokespersons for the GNU Project:

Robert J. Chassell
Loïc Dachary
Ricardo Galli
Georg Greve
Federico Heinz
Bradley Kuhn
Just Moglen
Richard Stallman
David Sugar

references

external link

Related original documentation from Wikisource : GNU Project

Official website (English)
Stallman's 1983 declaration announcing the beginning of the GNU project (English)
GNU philosophy web page (English)
GNU Manifesto ( page archive backup , stored in) (English)
Detailed records of the GNU project ( page archive backup , stored in) (English)
A brief history of the GNU project ( page archive backup , stored at) (English)
Original code 3 way_3/5: Use revolution to survive the community-GNU (1/2) ( page archive backup , stored in)

See

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The GNU Project (English:), also translated as the Genuine Project, is a free software collective collaboration project that was publicly launched by Richard Stallman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on September 27, 1983.