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-revision 1.108 by jturner,
Tue Nov 29 14:14:10 2011 UTC
+revision 1.126 by rms,
Fri Dec 20 09:31:03 2013 UTC
 Line 1
  <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+ <!-- Parent-Version: 1.75 -->
- <title>What is free software? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</title>
+ <title>What is free software?
+ - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
  <meta http-equiv="Keywords" content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, Linux, Emacs, GCC, Unix, Free Software, Operating System, GNU Kernel, HURD, GNU HURD, Hurd" />
  <meta http-equiv="Description" content="Since 1983, developing the free Unix style operating system GNU, so that computer users can have the freedom to share and improve the software they use." />
- <link rel="alternate" title="What's New" href="http://www.gnu.org/rss/whatsnew.rss" type="application/rss+xml" />
- <link rel="alternate" title="New Free Software" href="http://www.gnu.org/rss/quagga.rss" type="application/rss+xml" />
- <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
  <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/free-sw.translist" -->
+ <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
  <h2>What is free software?</h2>
  <h3>The Free Software Definition</h3>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ The free software definition presents the criteria for whether a
+ particular software program qualifies as free software.  From time to
+ time we revise this definition, to clarify it or to resolve questions
+ about subtle issues.  See the <a href="#History">History section</a>
+ below for a list of changes that affect the definition of free
+ software.
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
  <p>
- We maintain this free software definition to show clearly what must be
+ &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; means software that respects users'
- true about a particular software program for it to be considered free
+ freedom and community.  Roughly, <b>the users have the freedom to run,
- software.  From time to time we revise this definition to clarify it.
+ copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software</b>.
- If you would like to review the changes we've made, please see
- the <a href="#History">History section</a> below for more information.
  </p>
  <p>
- &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; is a matter of liberty, not price.  To understand
+ Thus, &ldquo;free software&rdquo; is a matter of liberty, not price.
- the concept, you should think of &ldquo;free&rdquo; as in &ldquo;free speech,&rdquo;
+ To understand the concept, you should think of &ldquo;free&rdquo; as
- not as in &ldquo;free beer.&rdquo;
+ in &ldquo;free speech,&rdquo; not as in &ldquo;free beer&rdquo;.
  </p>
  <p>
- Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute,
+ With these freedoms, the users (both individually and collectively)
- study, change and improve the software.  More precisely, it means that the
+ control the program and what it does for them.  When users don't
- program's users have the four essential freedoms:
+ control the program, the program controls the users.  The developer
+ controls the program, and through it exercises power over the users.
+ Therefore, a &ldquo;nonfree&rdquo; or &ldquo;proprietary&rdquo; program
+ is <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html"> an
+ instrument of unjust power</a>.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A program is free software if the program's users have the
+ four essential freedoms:
  </p>
  <ul>
-Line 51 
 program's users have the four essential
+Line 68 
 program's users have the four essential
  </ul>
  <p>
- A program is free software if users have all of these freedoms.  Thus,
+ A program is free software if it gives users adequately all of these
- you should be free to redistribute copies, either with or without
+ freedoms.  Otherwise, it is nonfree.  While we can distinguish various
- modifications, either gratis or charging a fee for distribution, to
+ nonfree distribution schemes in terms of how far they fall short of
+ being free, we consider them all equally unethical.</p>
+ <p>The rest of this page clarifies certain points about what makes
+ specific freedoms adequate or not.</p>
+ <p>Freedom to distribute (freedoms 2 and 3) means you are free to
+ redistribute copies, either with or without modifications, either
+ gratis or charging a fee for distribution, to
  <a href="#exportcontrol">anyone anywhere</a>.  Being free to do these
  things means (among other things) that you do not have to ask or pay
  for permission to do so.
-Line 90 
 make them.
+Line 115 
 make them.
  <p>
  In order for freedoms 1 and 3 (the freedom to make changes and the
- freedom to publish improved versions) to be meaningful, you must have
+ freedom to publish the changed versions) to be meaningful, you must have
  access to the source code of the program.  Therefore, accessibility of
  source code is a necessary condition for free software.  Obfuscated
  &ldquo;source code&rdquo; is not real source code and does not count
-Line 129 
 as a free license.
+Line 154 
 as a free license.
  <p>
  In order for these freedoms to be real, they must be permanent and
  irrevocable as long as you do nothing wrong; if the developer of the
- software has the power to revoke the license, or retroactively change
+ software has the power to revoke the license, or retroactively add
- its terms, without your doing anything wrong to give cause, the
+ restrictions to its terms, without your doing anything wrong to give
- software is not free.
+ cause, the software is not free.
  </p>
  <p>
-Line 144 
 the central freedoms; rather it protects
+Line 169 
 the central freedoms; rather it protects
  </p>
  <p>
- &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; does not mean &ldquo;noncommercial.&rdquo;  A free
+ &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; does not mean &ldquo;noncommercial&rdquo;.  A free
  program must be available for commercial use, commercial development,
  and commercial distribution.  Commercial development of free software
  is no longer unusual; such free commercial software is very important.
-Line 156 
 you always have the freedom to copy and
+Line 181 
 you always have the freedom to copy and
  <p>
  Whether a change constitutes an improvement is a subjective matter.
- If your modifications are limited, in substance, to changes that
+ If your right to modify a program is limited, in substance, to changes that
- someone else considers an improvement, that is not freedom.
+ someone else considers an improvement, that program is not free.
  </p>
  <p>
-Line 185 
 are also acceptable.
+Line 210 
 are also acceptable.
  </p>
  <p>
+ A special issue arises when a license requires changing the name by
+ which the program will be invoked from other programs.  That
+ effectively hampers you from releasing your changed version so that it
+ can replace the original when invoked by those other programs.  This
+ sort of requirement is acceptable only if there's a suitable aliasing
+ facility that allows you to specify the original program's name as an
+ alias for the modified version.</p>
+ <p>
  In the GNU project, we use
  <a href="/copyleft/copyleft.html">copyleft</a>
  to protect these freedoms legally for everyone.  But
-Line 203 
 eliminate or override these restrictions
+Line 237 
 eliminate or override these restrictions
  is refuse to impose them as conditions of use of the program.  In this
  way, the restrictions will not affect activities and people outside the
  jurisdictions of these governments.  Thus, free software licenses
- must not require obedience to any export regulations as a condition of
+ must not require obedience to any nontrivial export regulations as a
- any of the essential freedoms.
+ condition of exercising any of the essential freedoms.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Merely mentioning the existence of export regulations, without making
+ them a condition of the license itself, is acceptable since it does
+ not restrict users.  If an export regulation is actually trivial for
+ free software, then requiring it as a condition is not an actual
+ problem; however, it is a potential problem, since a later change in
+ export law could make the requirement nontrivial and thus render the
+ software nonfree.
  </p>
  <p>
-Line 273 
 help you can ensure that the license rea
+Line 317 
 help you can ensure that the license rea
  and avoid various practical problems.
  </p>
- <h2 id="beyond-software">Beyond Software</h2>
+ <h3 id="beyond-software">Beyond Software</h3>
  <p>
  <a href="/philosophy/free-doc.html">Software manuals must be free</a>,
-Line 295 
 has been extended to a definition of <a
+Line 339 
 has been extended to a definition of <a
  free cultural works</a> applicable to any kind of works.
  </p>
- <h2 id="open-source">Open Source?</h2>
+ <h3 id="open-source">Open Source?</h3>
  <p>
  Another group has started using the term &ldquo;open source&rdquo; to mean
- something close (but not identical) to &ldquo;free software.&rdquo;  We
+ something close (but not identical) to &ldquo;free software&rdquo;.  We
  prefer the term &ldquo;free software&rdquo; because, once you have heard that
  it refers to freedom rather than price, it calls to mind freedom.  The
  word &ldquo;open&rdquo; <a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">
  never refers to freedom</a>.
  </p>
- <h2 id="History">History</h2>
+ <h3 id="History">History</h3>
- <p>From time to time we revise this Free Software Definition to
+ <p>From time to time we revise this Free Software Definition.  Here is
- clarify it.  Here we provide a list of those modifications, along with
+ the list of substantive changes, along with links to show exactly what
- links to illustrate exactly what changed, so that others can review
+ was changed.</p>
- them if they like.</p>
  <ul>
+ <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.121&amp;r2=1.122">Version
+.122</a>: An export control requirement is a real problem if the
+ requirement is nontrivial; otherwise it is only a potential problem.</li>
+ <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.117&amp;r2=1.118">Version
+.118</a>: Clarification: the issue is limits on your right to modify,
+ not on what modifications you have made.  And modifications are not limited
+ to &ldquo;improvements&rdquo;</li>
+ <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.110&amp;r2=1.111">Version
+.111</a>: Clarify 1.77 by saying that only
+ retroactive <em>restrictions</em> are unacceptable.  The copyright
+ holders can always grant additional <em>permission</em> for use of the
+ work by releasing the work in another way in parallel.</li>
  <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.104&amp;r2=1.105">Version
 .105</a>: Reflect, in the brief statement of freedom 1, the point
  (already stated in version 1.80) that it includes really using your modified
-Line 392 
 versions you distribute to the author.</
+Line 450 
 versions you distribute to the author.</
  </ul>
- <p>There are gaps in the version numbers because there are many other
+ <p>There are gaps in the version numbers shown above because there are
- changes that do not affect the substance of the definition at all.
+ other changes in this page that do not affect the definition or its
- Instead, they fix links, add translations, and so on.  If you would
+ interpretations.  For instance, the list does not include changes in
- like to review the complete list of changes, you can do so on
+ asides, formatting, spelling, punctuation, or other parts of the page.
- our <a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;view=log">cvsweb
+ You can review the complete list of changes to the page through
+ the <a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;view=log">cvsweb
  interface</a>.</p>
- </div>
+ </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
  <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
  <div id="footer">
- <p>
+ <p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
- Please send FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
  <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
  There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
- the FSF.
+ the FSF.  Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
- <br />
+ to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
- Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
- <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
+ <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
- </p>
+         replace it with the translation of these two:
+         We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
+         translations.  However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
+         Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
+         to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org">
+         &lt;web-translators@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
+         <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of
+         our web pages, see <a
+         href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+         README</a>. -->
+ Please see the <a
+ href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+ README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
+ of this article.</p>
+ <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
+      files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
+      be under CC BY-ND 3.0 US.  Please do NOT change or remove this
+      without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
+      Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
+      document.  For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
+      document was modified, or published.
+      If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too.
+      Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying
+      years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable
+      year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including
+      being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system).
+      There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
+      Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->
- <p>
+ <p>Copyright &copy; 1996-2002, 2004-2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013
- Please see the
+ Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
- <a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
- README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting
- translations of this article.
- </p>
- <p>
- Copyright &copy; 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004,
-, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
- </p>
  <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
  href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative
- Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.
+ Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p>
- </p>
- <p>
+ <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
- Updated:
+ <p>Updated:
  <!-- timestamp start -->
  $Date$
  <!-- timestamp end -->
  </p>
  </div>
- <!-- <div id="translations"> -->
- <!-- <h4>Translations of this page</h4> -->
- <!--  -->
- <!-- Please keep this list alphabetical by language code. -->
- <!--      Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. -->
- <!--      Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. -->
- <!--      If you add a new language here, please -->
- <!--      advise web-translators@gnu.org and add it to -->
- <!--       - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
- <!--       - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
- <!--       - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
- <!--       to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
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- <!--      If the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code is not available, -->
- <!--      use the 3-letter ISO 639-2. -->
- <!--      Please use W3C normative character entities. -->
- <!--  -->
- <!-- <ul class="translations-list"> -->
- <!-- Afrikaans -->
- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.af.html">Afrikaans</a>&nbsp;[af]</li> -->
- <!-- Arabic -->
- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.ar.html">&#1575;&#1604;&#1593;&#1585;&#1576;&#1610;&#1577;</a>&nbsp;[ar]</li> -->
- <!-- Azerbaijani -->
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- <!-- Bengali -->
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- <!-- Bosnian -->
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- <!-- Catalan -->
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- <!-- Czech -->
- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.cs.html">&#x010c;esky</a>&nbsp;[cs]</li> -->
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- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.da.html">dansk</a>&nbsp;[da]</li> -->
- <!-- German -->
- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.de.html">Deutsch</a>&nbsp;[de]</li> -->
- <!-- Greek -->
- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.el.html">&#x03b5;&#x03bb;&#x03bb;&#x03b7;&#x03bd;&#x03b9;&#x03ba;&#x03ac;</a>&nbsp;[el]</li> -->
- <!-- English -->
- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">English</a>&nbsp;[en]</li> -->
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- <!-- Spanish -->
- <!-- <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.es.html">espa&#x00f1;ol</a>&nbsp;[es]</li> -->
- <!-- Farsi (Persian) -->
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