section1
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# Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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# type: Content of: <title>
msgid "About the GNU Project - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)"
msgstr "ഗ്നു സംരംഭത്തെകുറിച്ചു് - ഗ്നു സംരംഭം- സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര് ഫൌണ്ടേഷന്(FSF)"
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msgid "GNU, GNU Project, FSF, Free Software, Free Software Foundation, History"
msgstr "ഗ്നു, ഗ്നും സംരംഭം, എഫ്.എസ്.എഫ്, സ്വതന്ത്ര സോസഫ്റ്റ്വെയര് ഫൌണ്ടേഷന്, ചരിത്രം "
# type: Content of: <h2>
msgid "The GNU Project"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"by <a href=\"http://www.stallman.org/\"><strong>Richard "
"Stallman</strong></a>"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid "originally published in the book “Open Sources”"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "The first software-sharing community"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"When I started working at the <abbr title=\"Massachusetts Institute of "
"Technology\">MIT</abbr> Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971, I became part "
"of a software-sharing community that had existed for many years. Sharing of "
"software was not limited to our particular community; it is as old as "
"computers, just as sharing of recipes is as old as cooking. But we did it "
"more than most."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The AI Lab used a timesharing operating system called <abbr "
"title=\"Incompatible Timesharing System\">ITS</abbr> (the Incompatible "
"Timesharing System) that the lab's staff hackers (1) had designed and "
"written in assembler language for the Digital <abbr title=\"Programmed Data "
"Processor\">PDP</abbr>-10, one of the large computers of the era. As a "
"member of this community, an AI lab staff system hacker, my job was to "
"improve this system."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"We did not call our software “free software”, because that term "
"did not yet exist; but that is what it was. Whenever people from another "
"university or a company wanted to port and use a program, we gladly let "
"them. If you saw someone using an unfamiliar and interesting program, you "
"could always ask to see the source code, so that you could read it, change "
"it, or cannibalize parts of it to make a new program."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(1) The use of “hacker” to mean “security breaker” "
"is a confusion on the part of the mass media. We hackers refuse to "
"recognize that meaning, and continue using the word to mean, “Someone "
"who loves to program and enjoys being clever about it.”"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "The collapse of the community"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The situation changed drastically in the early 1980s when Digital "
"discontinued the <abbr>PDP</abbr>-10 series. Its architecture, elegant and "
"powerful in the 60s, could not extend naturally to the larger address spaces "
"that were becoming feasible in the 80s. This meant that nearly all of the "
"programs composing <abbr>ITS</abbr> were obsolete."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The AI lab hacker community had already collapsed, not long before. In "
"1981, the spin-off company Symbolics had hired away nearly all of the "
"hackers from the AI lab, and the depopulated community was unable to "
"maintain itself. (The book Hackers, by Steve Levy, describes these events, "
"as well as giving a clear picture of this community in its prime.) When the "
"AI lab bought a new <abbr>PDP</abbr>-10 in 1982, its administrators decided "
"to use Digital's non-free timesharing system instead of <abbr>ITS</abbr>."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The modern computers of the era, such as the VAX or the 68020, had their own "
"operating systems, but none of them were free software: you had to sign a "
"nondisclosure agreement even to get an executable copy."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"This meant that the first step in using a computer was to promise not to "
"help your neighbor. A cooperating community was forbidden. The rule made "
"by the owners of proprietary software was, “If you share with your "
"neighbor, you are a pirate. If you want any changes, beg us to make "
"them.”"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The idea that the proprietary-software social system—the system that "
"says you are not allowed to share or change software—is antisocial, "
"that it is unethical, that it is simply wrong, may come as a surprise to "
"some readers. But what else could we say about a system based on dividing "
"the public and keeping users helpless? Readers who find the idea surprising "
"may have taken proprietary-software social system as given, or judged it on "
"the terms suggested by proprietary software businesses. Software publishers "
"have worked long and hard to convince people that there is only one way to "
"look at the issue."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"When software publishers talk about “enforcing” their "
"“rights” or “stopping <a "
"href=\"/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy\">piracy</a>”, what they "
"actually <em>say</em> is secondary. The real message of these statements is "
"in the unstated assumptions they take for granted; the public is supposed to "
"accept them uncritically. So let's examine them."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"One assumption is that software companies have an unquestionable natural "
"right to own software and thus have power over all its users. (If this were "
"a natural right, then no matter how much harm it does to the public, we "
"could not object.) Interestingly, the US Constitution and legal tradition "
"reject this view; copyright is not a natural right, but an artificial "
"government-imposed monopoly that limits the users' natural right to copy."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Another unstated assumption is that the only important thing about software "
"is what jobs it allows you to do—that we computer users should not "
"care what kind of society we are allowed to have."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"A third assumption is that we would have no usable software (or would never "
"have a program to do this or that particular job) if we did not offer a "
"company power over the users of the program. This assumption may have "
"seemed plausible, before the free software movement demonstrated that we can "
"make plenty of useful software without putting chains on it."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"If we decline to accept these assumptions, and judge these issues based on "
"ordinary common-sense morality while placing the users first, we arrive at "
"very different conclusions. Computer users should be free to modify "
"programs to fit their needs, and free to share software, because helping "
"other people is the basis of society."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"There is no room here for an extensive statement of the reasoning behind "
"this conclusion, so I refer the reader to the web page, <a "
"href=\"/philosophy/why-free.html\"> "
"http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html</a>."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "A stark moral choice."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"With my community gone, to continue as before was impossible. Instead, I "
"faced a stark moral choice."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The easy choice was to join the proprietary software world, signing "
"nondisclosure agreements and promising not to help my fellow hacker. Most "
"likely I would also be developing software that was released under "
"nondisclosure agreements, thus adding to the pressure on other people to "
"betray their fellows too."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"I could have made money this way, and perhaps amused myself writing code. "
"But I knew that at the end of my career, I would look back on years of "
"building walls to divide people, and feel I had spent my life making the "
"world a worse place."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"I had already experienced being on the receiving end of a nondisclosure "
"agreement, when someone refused to give me and the <abbr>MIT</abbr> AI lab "
"the source code for the control program for our printer. (The lack of "
"certain features in this program made use of the printer extremely "
"frustrating.) So I could not tell myself that nondisclosure agreements were "
"innocent. I was very angry when he refused to share with us; I could not "
"turn around and do the same thing to everyone else."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Another choice, straightforward but unpleasant, was to leave the computer "
"field. That way my skills would not be misused, but they would still be "
"wasted. I would not be culpable for dividing and restricting computer "
"users, but it would happen nonetheless."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"So I looked for a way that a programmer could do something for the good. I "
"asked myself, was there a program or programs that I could write, so as to "
"make a community possible once again?"
msgstr ""
section2(tobe removed)
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The answer was clear: what was needed first was an operating system. That "
"is the crucial software for starting to use a computer. With an operating "
"system, you can do many things; without one, you cannot run the computer at "
"all. With a free operating system, we could again have a community of "
"cooperating hackers—and invite anyone to join. And anyone would be "
"able to use a computer without starting out by conspiring to deprive his or "
"her friends."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"As an operating system developer, I had the right skills for this job. So "
"even though I could not take success for granted, I realized that I was "
"elected to do the job. I chose to make the system compatible with Unix so "
"that it would be portable, and so that Unix users could easily switch to "
"it. The name GNU was chosen following a hacker tradition, as a recursive "
"acronym for “GNU's Not Unix.”"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"An operating system does not mean just a kernel, barely enough to run other "
"programs. In the 1970s, every operating system worthy of the name included "
"command processors, assemblers, compilers, interpreters, debuggers, text "
"editors, mailers, and much more. <abbr>ITS</abbr> had them, Multics had "
"them, VMS had them, and Unix had them. The GNU operating system would "
"include them too."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid "Later I heard these words, attributed to Hillel (1):"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <blockquote><p>
msgid ""
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?<br /> If I am only for myself, "
"what am I?<br /> If not now, when?"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid "The decision to start the GNU project was based on a similar spirit."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(1) As an Atheist, I don't follow any religious leaders, but I sometimes "
"find I admire something one of them has said."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Free as in freedom"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The term “free software” is sometimes misunderstood—it has "
"nothing to do with price. It is about freedom. Here, therefore, is the "
"definition of free software: a program is free software, for you, a "
"particular user, if:"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <ul><li>
msgid "You have the freedom to run the program, for any purpose."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <ul><li>
msgid ""
"You have the freedom to modify the program to suit your needs. (To make "
"this freedom effective in practice, you must have access to the source code, "
"since making changes in a program without having the source code is "
"exceedingly difficult.)"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <ul><li>
msgid "You have the freedom to redistribute copies, either gratis or for a fee."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <ul><li>
msgid ""
"You have the freedom to distribute modified versions of the program, so that "
"the community can benefit from your improvements."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Since “free” refers to freedom, not to price, there is no "
"contradiction between selling copies and free software. In fact, the "
"freedom to sell copies is crucial: collections of free software sold on "
"CD-ROMs are important for the community, and selling them is an important "
"way to raise funds for free software development. Therefore, a program "
"which people are not free to include on these collections is not free "
"software."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Because of the ambiguity of “free”, people have long looked for "
"alternatives, but no one has found a suitable alternative. The English "
"Language has more words and nuances than any other, but it lacks a simple, "
"unambiguous, word that means “free”, as in "
"freedom—“unfettered” being the word that comes closest in "
"meaning. Such alternatives as “liberated”, "
"“freedom”, and “open” have either the wrong meaning "
"or some other disadvantage."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "GNU software and the GNU system"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Developing a whole system is a very large project. To bring it into reach, "
"I decided to adapt and use existing pieces of free software wherever that "
"was possible. For example, I decided at the very beginning to use TeX as "
"the principal text formatter; a few years later, I decided to use the X "
"Window System rather than writing another window system for GNU."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Because of this decision, the GNU system is not the same as the collection "
"of all GNU software. The GNU system includes programs that are not GNU "
"software, programs that were developed by other people and projects for "
"their own purposes, but which we can use because they are free software."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Commencing the project"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"In January 1984 I quit my job at <abbr>MIT</abbr> and began writing GNU "
"software. Leaving <abbr>MIT</abbr> was necessary so that <abbr>MIT</abbr> "
"would not be able to interfere with distributing GNU as free software. If I "
"had remained on the staff, <abbr>MIT</abbr> could have claimed to own the "
"work, and could have imposed their own distribution terms, or even turned "
"the work into a proprietary software package. I had no intention of doing a "
"large amount of work only to see it become useless for its intended purpose: "
"creating a new software-sharing community."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"However, Professor Winston, then the head of the <abbr>MIT</abbr> AI Lab, "
"kindly invited me to keep using the lab's facilities."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "The first steps"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Shortly before beginning the GNU project, I heard about the Free University "
"Compiler Kit, also known as VUCK. (The Dutch word for “free” is "
"written with a V.) This was a compiler designed to handle multiple "
"languages, including C and Pascal, and to support multiple target machines. "
"I wrote to its author asking if GNU could use it."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"He responded derisively, stating that the university was free but the "
"compiler was not. I therefore decided that my first program for the GNU "
"project would be a multi-language, multi-platform compiler."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Hoping to avoid the need to write the whole compiler myself, I obtained the "
"source code for the Pastel compiler, which was a multi-platform compiler "
"developed at Lawrence Livermore Lab. It supported, and was written in, an "
"extended version of Pascal, designed to be a system-programming language. I "
"added a C front end, and began porting it to the Motorola 68000 computer. "
"But I had to give that up when I discovered that the compiler needed many "
"megabytes of stack space, and the available 68000 Unix system would only "
"allow 64k."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"I then realized that the Pastel compiler functioned by parsing the entire "
"input file into a syntax tree, converting the whole syntax tree into a chain "
"of “instructions”, and then generating the whole output file, "
"without ever freeing any storage. At this point, I concluded I would have "
"to write a new compiler from scratch. That new compiler is now known as "
"<acronym title=\"GNU Compiler Collection\">GCC</acronym>; none of the Pastel "
"compiler is used in it, but I managed to adapt and use the C front end that "
"I had written. But that was some years later; first, I worked on GNU Emacs."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "GNU Emacs"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"I began work on GNU Emacs in September 1984, and in early 1985 it was "
"beginning to be usable. This enabled me to begin using Unix systems to do "
"editing; having no interest in learning to use vi or ed, I had done my "
"editing on other kinds of machines until then."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"At this point, people began wanting to use GNU Emacs, which raised the "
"question of how to distribute it. Of course, I put it on the anonymous ftp "
"server on the MIT computer that I used. (This computer, prep.ai.mit.edu, "
"thus became the principal GNU ftp distribution site; when it was "
"decommissioned a few years later, we transferred the name to our new ftp "
"server.) But at that time, many of the interested people were not on the "
"Internet and could not get a copy by ftp. So the question was, what would I "
"say to them?"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"I could have said, “Find a friend who is on the net and who will make "
"a copy for you.” Or I could have done what I did with the original "
"<abbr>PDP</abbr>-10 Emacs: tell them, “Mail me a tape and a <abbr "
"title=\"Self-addressed Stamped Envelope\">SASE</abbr>, and I will mail it "
"back with Emacs on it.” But I had no job, and I was looking for ways "
"to make money from free software. So I announced that I would mail a tape "
"to whoever wanted one, for a fee of $150. In this way, I started a free "
"software distribution business, the precursor of the companies that today "
"distribute entire Linux-based GNU systems."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Is a program free for every user?"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"If a program is free software when it leaves the hands of its author, this "
"does not necessarily mean it will be free software for everyone who has a "
"copy of it. For example, <a "
"href=\"/philosophy/categories.html#PublicDomainSoftware\"> public domain "
"software</a> (software that is not copyrighted) is free software; but anyone "
"can make a proprietary modified version of it. Likewise, many free programs "
"are copyrighted but distributed under simple permissive licenses which allow "
"proprietary modified versions."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The paradigmatic example of this problem is the X Window System. Developed "
"at <abbr>MIT</abbr>, and released as free software with a permissive "
"license, it was soon adopted by various computer companies. They added X to "
"their proprietary Unix systems, in binary form only, and covered by the same "
"nondisclosure agreement. These copies of X were no more free software than "
"Unix was."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The developers of the X Window System did not consider this a "
"problem—they expected and intended this to happen. Their goal was not "
"freedom, just “success”, defined as “having many "
"users.” They did not care whether these users had freedom, only that "
"they should be numerous."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"This led to a paradoxical situation where two different ways of counting the "
"amount of freedom gave different answers to the question, “Is this "
"program free?” If you judged based on the freedom provided by the "
"distribution terms of the <abbr>MIT</abbr> release, you would say that X was "
"free software. But if you measured the freedom of the average user of X, "
"you would have to say it was proprietary software. Most X users were "
"running the proprietary versions that came with Unix systems, not the free "
"version."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Copyleft and the GNU GPL"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The goal of GNU was to give users freedom, not just to be popular. So we "
"needed to use distribution terms that would prevent GNU software from being "
"turned into proprietary software. The method we use is called "
"“copyleft”.(1)"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Copyleft uses copyright law, but flips it over to serve the opposite of its "
"usual purpose: instead of a means of privatizing software, it becomes a "
"means of keeping software free."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The central idea of copyleft is that we give everyone permission to run the "
"program, copy the program, modify the program, and distribute modified "
"versions—but not permission to add restrictions of their own. Thus, "
"the crucial freedoms that define “free software” are guaranteed "
"to everyone who has a copy; they become inalienable rights."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"For an effective copyleft, modified versions must also be free. This "
"ensures that work based on ours becomes available to our community if it is "
"published. When programmers who have jobs as programmers volunteer to "
"improve GNU software, it is copyleft that prevents their employers from "
"saying, “You can't share those changes, because we are going to use "
"them to make our proprietary version of the program.”"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The requirement that changes must be free is essential if we want to ensure "
"freedom for every user of the program. The companies that privatized the X "
"Window System usually made some changes to port it to their systems and "
"hardware. These changes were small compared with the great extent of X, but "
"they were not trivial. If making changes were an excuse to deny the users "
"freedom, it would be easy for anyone to take advantage of the excuse."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"A related issue concerns combining a free program with non-free code. Such "
"a combination would inevitably be non-free; whichever freedoms are lacking "
"for the non-free part would be lacking for the whole as well. To permit "
"such combinations would open a hole big enough to sink a ship. Therefore, a "
"crucial requirement for copyleft is to plug this hole: anything added to or "
"combined with a copylefted program must be such that the larger combined "
"version is also free and copylefted."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The specific implementation of copyleft that we use for most GNU software is "
"the GNU General Public License, or GNU GPL for short. We have other kinds "
"of copyleft that are used in specific circumstances. GNU manuals are "
"copylefted also, but use a much simpler kind of copyleft, because the "
"complexity of the GNU GPL is not necessary for manuals.(2)"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(1) In 1984 or 1985, Don Hopkins (a very imaginative fellow) mailed me a "
"letter. On the envelope he had written several amusing sayings, including "
"this one: “Copyleft—all rights reversed.” I used the word "
"“copyleft” to name the distribution concept I was developing at "
"the time."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(2) We now use the <a href=\"/licenses/fdl.html\">GNU Free Documentation "
"License</a> for documentation."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "The Free Software Foundation"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"As interest in using Emacs was growing, other people became involved in the "
"GNU project, and we decided that it was time to seek funding once again. So "
"in 1985 we created the Free Software Foundation, a tax-exempt charity for "
"free software development. The <abbr title=\"Free Software "
"Foundation\">FSF</abbr> also took over the Emacs tape distribution business; "
"later it extended this by adding other free software (both GNU and non-GNU) "
"to the tape, and by selling free manuals as well."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The <abbr>FSF</abbr> accepts donations, but most of its income has always "
"come from sales—of copies of free software, and of other related "
"services. Today it sells CD-ROMs of source code, CD-ROMs with binaries, "
"nicely printed manuals (all with freedom to redistribute and modify), and "
"Deluxe Distributions (where we build the whole collection of software for "
"your choice of platform)."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Free Software Foundation employees have written and maintained a number of "
"GNU software packages. Two notable ones are the C library and the shell. "
"The GNU C library is what every program running on a GNU/Linux system uses "
"to communicate with Linux. It was developed by a member of the Free "
"Software Foundation staff, Roland McGrath. The shell used on most GNU/Linux "
"systems is <acronym title=\"Bourne Again Shell\">BASH</acronym>, the Bourne "
"Again Shell(1), which was developed by <abbr>FSF</abbr> employee Brian Fox."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"We funded development of these programs because the GNU project was not just "
"about tools or a development environment. Our goal was a complete operating "
"system, and these programs were needed for that goal."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(1) “Bourne Again Shell” is a play on the name “Bourne "
"Shell”, which was the usual shell on Unix."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Free software support"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The free software philosophy rejects a specific widespread business "
"practice, but it is not against business. When businesses respect the "
"users' freedom, we wish them success."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Selling copies of Emacs demonstrates one kind of free software business. "
"When the <abbr>FSF</abbr> took over that business, I needed another way to "
"make a living. I found it in selling services relating to the free software "
"I had developed. This included teaching, for subjects such as how to "
"program GNU Emacs and how to customize <acronym>GCC</acronym>, and software "
"development, mostly porting <acronym>GCC</acronym> to new platforms."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Today each of these kinds of free software business is practiced by a number "
"of corporations. Some distribute free software collections on CD-ROM; "
"others sell support at levels ranging from answering user questions, to "
"fixing bugs, to adding major new features. We are even beginning to see "
"free software companies based on launching new free software products."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Watch out, though—a number of companies that associate themselves with "
"the term “open source” actually base their business on non-free "
"software that works with free software. These are not free software "
"companies, they are proprietary software companies whose products tempt "
"users away from freedom. They call these “value added”, which "
"reflects the values they would like us to adopt: convenience above freedom. "
"If we value freedom more, we should call them “freedom "
"subtracted” products."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Technical goals"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The principal goal of GNU was to be free software. Even if GNU had no "
"technical advantage over Unix, it would have a social advantage, allowing "
"users to cooperate, and an ethical advantage, respecting the user's freedom."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"But it was natural to apply the known standards of good practice to the "
"work—for example, dynamically allocating data structures to avoid "
"arbitrary fixed size limits, and handling all the possible 8-bit codes "
"wherever that made sense."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"In addition, we rejected the Unix focus on small memory size, by deciding "
"not to support 16-bit machines (it was clear that 32-bit machines would be "
"the norm by the time the GNU system was finished), and to make no effort to "
"reduce memory usage unless it exceeded a megabyte. In programs for which "
"handling very large files was not crucial, we encouraged programmers to read "
"an entire input file into core, then scan its contents without having to "
"worry about I/O."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"These decisions enabled many GNU programs to surpass their Unix counterparts "
"in reliability and speed."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Donated computers"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"As the GNU project's reputation grew, people began offering to donate "
"machines running Unix to the project. These were very useful, because the "
"easiest way to develop components of GNU was to do it on a Unix system, and "
"replace the components of that system one by one. But they raised an "
"ethical issue: whether it was right for us to have a copy of Unix at all."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Unix was (and is) proprietary software, and the GNU project's philosophy "
"said that we should not use proprietary software. But, applying the same "
"reasoning that leads to the conclusion that violence in self defense is "
"justified, I concluded that it was legitimate to use a proprietary package "
"when that was crucial for developing a free replacement that would help "
"others stop using the proprietary package."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"But, even if this was a justifiable evil, it was still an evil. Today we no "
"longer have any copies of Unix, because we have replaced them with free "
"operating systems. If we could not replace a machine's operating system "
"with a free one, we replaced the machine instead."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "The GNU Task List"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"As the GNU project proceeded, and increasing numbers of system components "
"were found or developed, eventually it became useful to make a list of the "
"remaining gaps. We used it to recruit developers to write the missing "
"pieces. This list became known as the GNU task list. In addition to "
"missing Unix components, we listed various other useful software and "
"documentation projects that, we thought, a truly complete system ought to "
"have."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Today, hardly any Unix components are left in the GNU task list—those "
"jobs have been done, aside from a few inessential ones. But the list is "
"full of projects that some might call “applications”. Any "
"program that appeals to more than a narrow class of users would be a useful "
"thing to add to an operating system."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Even games are included in the task list—and have been since the "
"beginning. Unix included games, so naturally GNU should too. But "
"compatibility was not an issue for games, so we did not follow the list of "
"games that Unix had. Instead, we listed a spectrum of different kinds of "
"games that users might like."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "The GNU Library GPL"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The GNU C library uses a special kind of copyleft called the GNU Library "
"General Public License(1), which gives permission to link proprietary "
"software with the library. Why make this exception?"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"It is not a matter of principle; there is no principle that says proprietary "
"software products are entitled to include our code. (Why contribute to a "
"project predicated on refusing to share with us?) Using the LGPL for the C "
"library, or for any library, is a matter of strategy."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The C library does a generic job; every proprietary system or compiler comes "
"with a C library. Therefore, to make our C library available only to free "
"software would not have given free software any advantage—it would "
"only have discouraged use of our library."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"One system is an exception to this: on the GNU system (and this includes "
"GNU/Linux), the GNU C library is the only C library. So the distribution "
"terms of the GNU C library determine whether it is possible to compile a "
"proprietary program for the GNU system. There is no ethical reason to allow "
"proprietary applications on the GNU system, but strategically it seems that "
"disallowing them would do more to discourage use of the GNU system than to "
"encourage development of free applications."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"That is why using the Library GPL is a good strategy for the C library. For "
"other libraries, the strategic decision needs to be considered on a "
"case-by-case basis. When a library does a special job that can help write "
"certain kinds of programs, then releasing it under the GPL, limiting it to "
"free programs only, is a way of helping other free software developers, "
"giving them an advantage against proprietary software."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Consider GNU Readline, a library that was developed to provide command-line "
"editing for <acronym>BASH</acronym>. Readline is released under the "
"ordinary GNU GPL, not the Library GPL. This probably does reduce the amount "
"Readline is used, but that is no loss for us. Meanwhile, at least one "
"useful application has been made free software specifically so it could use "
"Readline, and that is a real gain for the community."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Proprietary software developers have the advantages money provides; free "
"software developers need to make advantages for each other. I hope some day "
"we will have a large collection of GPL-covered libraries that have no "
"parallel available to proprietary software, providing useful modules to "
"serve as building blocks in new free software, and adding up to a major "
"advantage for further free software development."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(1) This license is now called the GNU Lesser General Public License, to "
"avoid giving the idea that all libraries ought to use it. <a "
"href=\"/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html\"></a>."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Scratching an itch?"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Eric Raymond says that “Every good work of software starts by "
"scratching a developer's personal itch.” Maybe that happens sometimes, "
"but many essential pieces of GNU software were developed in order to have a "
"complete free operating system. They come from a vision and a plan, not "
"from impulse."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"For example, we developed the GNU C library because a Unix-like system needs "
"a C library, the Bourne-Again Shell (<acronym>bash</acronym>) because a "
"Unix-like system needs a shell, and GNU tar because a Unix-like system needs "
"a tar program. The same is true for my own programs—the GNU C "
"compiler, GNU Emacs, GDB and GNU Make."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Some GNU programs were developed to cope with specific threats to our "
"freedom. Thus, we developed gzip to replace the Compress program, which had "
"been lost to the community because of the <abbr "
"title=\"Lempel-Ziv-Welch\">LZW</abbr> patents. We found people to develop "
"LessTif, and more recently started <acronym title=\"GNU Network Object Model "
"Environment\">GNOME</acronym> and Harmony, to address the problems caused by "
"certain proprietary libraries (see below). We are developing the GNU "
"Privacy Guard to replace popular non-free encryption software, because users "
"should not have to choose between privacy and freedom."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Of course, the people writing these programs became interested in the work, "
"and many features were added to them by various people for the sake of their "
"own needs and interests. But that is not why the programs exist."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Unexpected developments"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"At the beginning of the GNU project, I imagined that we would develop the "
"whole GNU system, then release it as a whole. That is not how it happened."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Since each component of the GNU system was implemented on a Unix system, "
"each component could run on Unix systems, long before a complete GNU system "
"existed. Some of these programs became popular, and users began extending "
"them and porting them—to the various incompatible versions of Unix, "
"and sometimes to other systems as well."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The process made these programs much more powerful, and attracted both funds "
"and contributors to the GNU project. But it probably also delayed "
"completion of a minimal working system by several years, as GNU developers' "
"time was put into maintaining these ports and adding features to the "
"existing components, rather than moving on to write one missing component "
"after another."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "The GNU Hurd"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"By 1990, the GNU system was almost complete; the only major missing "
"component was the kernel. We had decided to implement our kernel as a "
"collection of server processes running on top of Mach. Mach is a "
"microkernel developed at Carnegie Mellon University and then at the "
"University of Utah; the GNU HURD is a collection of servers (or “herd "
"of gnus”) that run on top of Mach, and do the various jobs of the Unix "
"kernel. The start of development was delayed as we waited for Mach to be "
"released as free software, as had been promised."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"One reason for choosing this design was to avoid what seemed to be the "
"hardest part of the job: debugging a kernel program without a source-level "
"debugger to do it with. This part of the job had been done already, in "
"Mach, and we expected to debug the HURD servers as user programs, with GDB. "
"But it took a long time to make that possible, and the multi-threaded "
"servers that send messages to each other have turned out to be very hard to "
"debug. Making the HURD work solidly has stretched on for many years."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Alix"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The GNU kernel was not originally supposed to be called the HURD. Its "
"original name was Alix—named after the woman who was my sweetheart at "
"the time. She, a Unix system administrator, had pointed out how her name "
"would fit a common naming pattern for Unix system versions; as a joke, she "
"told her friends, “Someone should name a kernel after me.” I "
"said nothing, but decided to surprise her with a kernel named Alix."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"It did not stay that way. Michael Bushnell (now Thomas), the main developer "
"of the kernel, preferred the name HURD, and redefined Alix to refer to a "
"certain part of the kernel—the part that would trap system calls and "
"handle them by sending messages to HURD servers."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Ultimately, Alix and I broke up, and she changed her name; independently, "
"the HURD design was changed so that the C library would send messages "
"directly to servers, and this made the Alix component disappear from the "
"design."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"But before these things happened, a friend of hers came across the name Alix "
"in the HURD source code, and mentioned the name to her. So the name did its "
"job."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Linux and GNU/Linux"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The GNU Hurd is not ready for production use. Fortunately, another kernel "
"is available. In 1991, Linus Torvalds developed a Unix-compatible kernel "
"and called it Linux. Around 1992, combining Linux with the "
"not-quite-complete GNU system resulted in a complete free operating system. "
"(Combining them was a substantial job in itself, of course.) It is due to "
"Linux that we can actually run a version of the GNU system today."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"We call this system version GNU/Linux, to express its composition as a "
"combination of the GNU system with Linux as the kernel."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Challenges in our future"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"We have proved our ability to develop a broad spectrum of free software. "
"This does not mean we are invincible and unstoppable. Several challenges "
"make the future of free software uncertain; meeting them will require "
"steadfast effort and endurance, sometimes lasting for years. It will "
"require the kind of determination that people display when they value their "
"freedom and will not let anyone take it away."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid "The following four sections discuss these challenges."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Secret hardware"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Hardware manufacturers increasingly tend to keep hardware specifications "
"secret. This makes it difficult to write free drivers so that Linux and "
"XFree86 can support new hardware. We have complete free systems today, but "
"we will not have them tomorrow if we cannot support tomorrow's computers."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"There are two ways to cope with this problem. Programmers can do reverse "
"engineering to figure out how to support the hardware. The rest of us can "
"choose the hardware that is supported by free software; as our numbers "
"increase, secrecy of specifications will become a self-defeating policy."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Reverse engineering is a big job; will we have programmers with sufficient "
"determination to undertake it? Yes—if we have built up a strong "
"feeling that free software is a matter of principle, and non-free drivers "
"are intolerable. And will large numbers of us spend extra money, or even a "
"little extra time, so we can use free drivers? Yes, if the determination to "
"have freedom is widespread."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(2008 note: this issue extends to the BIOS as well. There is a free BIOS, "
"coreboot; the problem is getting specs for machines so that coreboot can "
"support them.)"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Non-free libraries"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"A non-free library that runs on free operating systems acts as a trap for "
"free software developers. The library's attractive features are the bait; "
"if you use the library, you fall into the trap, because your program cannot "
"usefully be part of a free operating system. (Strictly speaking, we could "
"include your program, but it won't <strong>run</strong> with the library "
"missing.) Even worse, if a program that uses the proprietary library "
"becomes popular, it can lure other unsuspecting programmers into the trap."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The first instance of this problem was the Motif toolkit, back in the 80s. "
"Although there were as yet no free operating systems, it was clear what "
"problem Motif would cause for them later on. The GNU Project responded in "
"two ways: by asking individual free software projects to support the free X "
"toolkit widgets as well as Motif, and by asking for someone to write a free "
"replacement for Motif. The job took many years; LessTif, developed by the "
"Hungry Programmers, became powerful enough to support most Motif "
"applications only in 1997."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Between 1996 and 1998, another non-free <abbr title=\"Graphical User "
"Interface\">GUI</abbr> toolkit library, called Qt, was used in a substantial "
"collection of free software, the desktop <acronym title=\"K Desktop "
"Environment\">KDE</acronym>."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Free GNU/Linux systems were unable to use <acronym>KDE</acronym>, because we "
"could not use the library. However, some commercial distributors of "
"GNU/Linux systems who were not strict about sticking with free software "
"added <acronym>KDE</acronym> to their systems—producing a system with "
"more capabilities, but less freedom. The <acronym>KDE</acronym> group was "
"actively encouraging more programmers to use Qt, and millions of new "
"“Linux users” had never been exposed to the idea that there was "
"a problem in this. The situation appeared grim."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The free software community responded to the problem in two ways: "
"<acronym>GNOME</acronym> and Harmony."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"<acronym>GNOME</acronym>, the GNU Network Object Model Environment, is GNU's "
"desktop project. Started in 1997 by Miguel de Icaza, and developed with the "
"support of Red Hat Software, <acronym>GNOME</acronym> set out to provide "
"similar desktop facilities, but using free software exclusively. It has "
"technical advantages as well, such as supporting a variety of languages, not "
"just C++. But its main purpose was freedom: not to require the use of any "
"non-free software."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Harmony is a compatible replacement library, designed to make it possible to "
"run <acronym>KDE</acronym> software without using Qt."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"In November 1998, the developers of Qt announced a change of license which, "
"when carried out, should make Qt free software. There is no way to be sure, "
"but I think that this was partly due to the community's firm response to the "
"problem that Qt posed when it was non-free. (The new license is "
"inconvenient and inequitable, so it remains desirable to avoid using Qt.)"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"[Subsequent note: in September 2000, Qt was rereleased under the GNU GPL, "
"which essentially solved this problem.]"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"How will we respond to the next tempting non-free library? Will the whole "
"community understand the need to stay out of the trap? Or will many of us "
"give up freedom for convenience, and produce a major problem? Our future "
"depends on our philosophy."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Software patents"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The worst threat we face comes from software patents, which can put "
"algorithms and features off limits to free software for up to twenty years. "
"The <abbr>LZW</abbr> compression algorithm patents were applied for in 1983, "
"and we still cannot release free software to produce proper compressed <abbr "
"title=\"Graphics Interchange Format\">GIF</abbr>s. In 1998, a free program "
"to produce <abbr title=\"MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3\">MP3</abbr> compressed audio "
"was removed from distribution under threat of a patent suit."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"There are ways to cope with patents: we can search for evidence that a "
"patent is invalid, and we can look for alternative ways to do a job. But "
"each of these methods works only sometimes; when both fail, a patent may "
"force all free software to lack some feature that users want. What will we "
"do when this happens?"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Those of us who value free software for freedom's sake will stay with free "
"software anyway. We will manage to get work done without the patented "
"features. But those who value free software because they expect it to be "
"technically superior are likely to call it a failure when a patent holds it "
"back. Thus, while it is useful to talk about the practical effectiveness of "
"the “cathedral” model of development (1), and the reliability "
"and power of some free software, we must not stop there. We must talk about "
"freedom and principle."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"(1) It would have been clearer to write ‘of the “bazaar” "
"model’, since that was the alternative that was new and initially "
"controversial."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Free documentation"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The biggest deficiency in our free operating systems is not in the "
"software—it is the lack of good free manuals that we can include in "
"our systems. Documentation is an essential part of any software package; "
"when an important free software package does not come with a good free "
"manual, that is a major gap. We have many such gaps today."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Free documentation, like free software, is a matter of freedom, not price. "
"The criterion for a free manual is pretty much the same as for free "
"software: it is a matter of giving all users certain freedoms. "
"Redistribution (including commercial sale) must be permitted, on-line and on "
"paper, so that the manual can accompany every copy of the program."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Permission for modification is crucial too. As a general rule, I don't "
"believe that it is essential for people to have permission to modify all "
"sorts of articles and books. For example, I don't think you or I are "
"obliged to give permission to modify articles like this one, which describe "
"our actions and our views."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"But there is a particular reason why the freedom to modify is crucial for "
"documentation for free software. When people exercise their right to modify "
"the software, and add or change its features, if they are conscientious they "
"will change the manual too—so they can provide accurate and usable "
"documentation with the modified program. A manual which does not allow "
"programmers to be conscientious and finish the job, does not fill our "
"community's needs."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Some kinds of limits on how modifications are done pose no problem. For "
"example, requirements to preserve the original author's copyright notice, "
"the distribution terms, or the list of authors, are ok. It is also no "
"problem to require modified versions to include notice that they were "
"modified, even to have entire sections that may not be deleted or changed, "
"as long as these sections deal with nontechnical topics. These kinds of "
"restrictions are not a problem because they don't stop the conscientious "
"programmer from adapting the manual to fit the modified program. In other "
"words, they don't block the free software community from making full use of "
"the manual."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"However, it must be possible to modify all the <em>technical</em> content of "
"the manual, and then distribute the result in all the usual media, through "
"all the usual channels; otherwise, the restrictions do obstruct the "
"community, the manual is not free, and we need another manual."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Will free software developers have the awareness and determination to "
"produce a full spectrum of free manuals? Once again, our future depends on "
"philosophy."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "We must talk about freedom"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Estimates today are that there are ten million users of GNU/Linux systems "
"such as Debian GNU/Linux and Red Hat “Linux”. Free software has "
"developed such practical advantages that users are flocking to it for purely "
"practical reasons."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The good consequences of this are evident: more interest in developing free "
"software, more customers for free software businesses, and more ability to "
"encourage companies to develop commercial free software instead of "
"proprietary software products."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"But interest in the software is growing faster than awareness of the "
"philosophy it is based on, and this leads to trouble. Our ability to meet "
"the challenges and threats described above depends on the will to stand firm "
"for freedom. To make sure our community has this will, we need to spread "
"the idea to the new users as they come into the community."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"But we are failing to do so: the efforts to attract new users into our "
"community are far outstripping the efforts to teach them the civics of our "
"community. We need to do both, and we need to keep the two efforts in "
"balance."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "“Open Source”"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Teaching new users about freedom became more difficult in 1998, when a part "
"of the community decided to stop using the term “free software” "
"and say “open source software” instead."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Some who favored this term aimed to avoid the confusion of "
"“free” with “gratis”—a valid goal. Others, "
"however, aimed to set aside the spirit of principle that had motivated the "
"free software movement and the GNU project, and to appeal instead to "
"executives and business users, many of whom hold an ideology that places "
"profit above freedom, above community, above principle. Thus, the rhetoric "
"of “open source” focuses on the potential to make high quality, "
"powerful software, but shuns the ideas of freedom, community, and principle."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The “Linux” magazines are a clear example of this—they are "
"filled with advertisements for proprietary software that works with "
"GNU/Linux. When the next Motif or Qt appears, will these magazines warn "
"programmers to stay away from it, or will they run ads for it?"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"The support of business can contribute to the community in many ways; all "
"else being equal, it is useful. But winning their support by speaking even "
"less about freedom and principle can be disastrous; it makes the previous "
"imbalance between outreach and civics education even worse."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"“Free software” and “open source” describe the same "
"category of software, more or less, but say different things about the "
"software, and about values. The GNU Project continues to use the term "
"“free software”, to express the idea that freedom, not just "
"technology, is important."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <h3>
msgid "Try!"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Yoda's philosophy (“There is no ‘try’”) sounds neat, "
"but it doesn't work for me. I have done most of my work while anxious about "
"whether I could do the job, and unsure that it would be enough to achieve "
"the goal if I did. But I tried anyway, because there was no one but me "
"between the enemy and my city. Surprising myself, I have sometimes "
"succeeded."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Sometimes I failed; some of my cities have fallen. Then I found another "
"threatened city, and got ready for another battle. Over time, I've learned "
"to look for threats and put myself between them and my city, calling on "
"other hackers to come and join me."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <p>
msgid ""
"Nowadays, often I'm not the only one. It is a relief and a joy when I see a "
"regiment of hackers digging in to hold the line, and I realize, this city "
"may survive—for now. But the dangers are greater each year, and now "
"Microsoft has explicitly targeted our community. We can't take the future "
"of freedom for granted. Don't take it for granted! If you want to keep your "
"freedom, you must be prepared to defend it."
msgstr ""
#. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes.
# type: Content of: <div>
msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to <a "
"href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><em>gnu@gnu.org</em></a>. There are also <a "
"href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. <br /> Please send "
"broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to <a "
"href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><em>webmasters@gnu.org</em></a>."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Please see the <a "
"href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> "
"for information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article."
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Copyright © 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 Richard Stallman <br /> "
"Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any "
"medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved."
msgstr ""
#. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits.
# type: Content of: <div><div>
msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*"
msgstr ""
#. timestamp start
# type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid "Updated:"
msgstr ""
# type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Translations of this page"
msgstr ""