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-revision 1.164 by gnun,
Wed Mar 20 10:56:16 2019 UTC
+revision 1.172 by dora,
Tue Feb  2 23:58:20 2021 UTC
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 are free.  However, if we plan to modify
  only A needs to be free; B is not pertinent to that plan.</p>
  <p>
- &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; does not mean &ldquo;noncommercial&rdquo;.  A free
+ &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; does not mean &ldquo;noncommercial&rdquo;.
- program must be available for commercial use, commercial development,
+ On the contrary, a free program must be available for commercial use,
- and commercial distribution.  Commercial development of free software
+ commercial development, and commercial distribution.  This policy is
- is no longer unusual; such free commercial software is very important.
+ of fundamental importance&mdash;without this, free software could not
- You may have paid money to get copies of free software, or you may have
+ achieve its aims.
- obtained copies at no charge.  But regardless of how you got your copies,
- you always have the freedom to copy and change the software, even to
- <a href="/philosophy/selling.html">sell copies</a>.
  </p>
  <p>
- A free program must offer the four freedoms to any user that obtains a
+ We want to invite everyone to use the GNU system, including businesses
- copy of the software, provided the user has complied thus far with the
+ and their workers.  That requires allowing commercial use.  We hope
- conditions of the free license covering the software.  Putting some of
+ that free replacement programs will supplant comparable proprietary
- the freedoms off limits to some users, or requiring that users pay, in
+ programs, but they can't do that if businesses are forbidden to use
- money or in kind, to exercise them, is tantamount to not granting the
+ them.  We want commercial products that contain software to include
- freedoms in question, and thus renders the program nonfree.
+ the GNU system, and that would constitute commercial distribution for
+ a price.  Commercial development of free software is no longer
+ unusual; such free commercial software is very important.  Paid,
+ professional support for free software fills an important need.
  </p>
- <p>The rest of this page clarifies certain points about what makes
+ <p>
- specific freedoms adequate or not.</p>
+ Thus, to exclude commercial use, commercial development or commercial
+ distribution would hobble the free software community and obstruct its
+ path to success.  We must conclude that a program licensed with such
+ restrictions does not qualify as free software.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A free program must offer the four freedoms to any would-be user that
+ obtains a copy of the software, who has complied thus far with the
+ conditions of the free license covering the software in any previous
+ distribution of it.  Putting some of the freedoms off limits to some
+ users, or requiring that users pay, in money or in kind, to exercise
+ them, is tantamount to not granting the freedoms in question, and thus
+ renders the program nonfree.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You may have paid money to get copies of a free program, or you may
+ have obtained copies at no charge.  But regardless of how you got your
+ copies, you always have the freedom to copy and change the software,
+ even to <a href="/philosophy/selling.html">sell copies</a>.
+ </p>
+ <h3>Clarifying the boundary between free and nonfree</h3>
+ <p>In the rest of this article we explain more precisely how far the
+ various freedoms need to extend, on various issues, in order for a
+ program to be free.</p>
  <h4>The freedom to run the program as you wish</h4>
-Line 151 
 functionality the program has, whether i
+Line 178 
 functionality the program has, whether i
  functioning in any given environment, or whether it is useful for any
  particular computing activity.</p>
+ <p>For example, if the code arbitrarily rejects certain meaningful
+ inputs&mdash;or even fails unconditionally&mdash;that may make the
+ program less useful, perhaps even totally useless, but it does not
+ deny users the freedom to run the program, so it does not conflict
+ with freedom 0.  If the program is free, the users can overcome the
+ loss of usefulness, because freedoms 1 and 3 permit users and
+ communities to make and distribute modified versions without the
+ arbitrary nuisance code.</p>
+ <p>&ldquo;As you wish&rdquo; includes, optonally, &ldquo;not at
+ all&rdquo; if that is what you wish.  So there is no need for a
+ separate &ldquo;freedom not to run a program.&rdquo;</p>
  <h4>The freedom to study the source code and make changes</h4>
  <p>
  In order for freedoms 1 and 3 (the freedom to make changes and the
- freedom to publish the changed versions) to be meaningful, you must have
+ freedom to publish the changed versions) to be meaningful, you need to 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 187 
 If your right to modify a program is lim
+Line 227 
 If your right to modify a program is lim
  someone else considers an improvement, that program is not free.
  </p>
+ <p>
+ One special case of freedom 1 is to delete the program's code so it
+ returns after doing nothing, or make it invoke some other program.
+ Thus, freedom 1 includes the &ldquo;freedom to delete the program.&rdquo;
+ </p>
  <h4>The freedom to redistribute if you wish: basic requirements</h4>
  <p>Freedom to distribute (freedoms 2 and 3) means you are free to
-Line 448 
 was changed.</p>
+Line 494 
 was changed.</p>
  <ul>
- <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.162&amp;r2=1.163">Version
+ <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.168&amp;r2=1.169">Version
-.163</a>: Clarify that the four freedoms apply to any and all users,
+.169</a>: Explain why more clearly why the four freedoms must apply
- and that requiring users to pay to exercise some of these freedoms is
+ to commercial activity.  Explain why the four freedoms imply the
- a way of denying them.</li>
+ freedom not to run the program and the freedom to delete it, so there
+ is no need to state those as separate requirements.</li>
+ <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.164&amp;r2=1.165">Version
+.165</a>: Clarify that arbitrary annoyances in the code do not
+ negate freedom 0, and that freedoms 1 and 3 enable users to remove them.</li>
  <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.152&amp;r2=1.153">Version
 .153</a>: Clarify that freedom to run the program means nothing stops
-Line 631 
 of this article.</p>
+Line 682 
 of this article.</p>
       There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
       Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->
- <p>Copyright &copy; 1996, 2002, 2004-2007, 2009-2019
+ <p>Copyright &copy; 1996, 2002, 2004-2007, 2009-2019, 2021
  Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
  <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"

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