/[www]/www/philosophy/free-sw.html
ViewVC logotype

Contents of /www/philosophy/free-sw.html

Parent Directory Parent Directory | Revision Log Revision Log


Revision 1.158 - (show annotations) (download) (as text)
Sun Apr 1 07:40:22 2018 UTC (6 years, 4 months ago) by ineiev
Branch: MAIN
Changes since 1.157: +4 -3 lines
File MIME type: text/html
Reword a link for accessibility.

1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.85 -->
3 <title>What is free software?
4 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
5
6 <meta http-equiv="Keywords" content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, Linux, Emacs, GCC, Unix, Free Software, Operating System, GNU Kernel, HURD, GNU HURD, Hurd" />
7 <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." />
8
9 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/free-sw.translist" -->
10 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
11
12 <h2>What is free software?</h2>
13
14 <blockquote class="note" id="fsf-licensing"><p style="font-size: 80%">
15 Have a question about free software licensing not answered here?
16 See our other <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing">licensing resources</a>,
17 and if necessary contact the FSF Compliance Lab
18 at <a href="mailto:licensing@fsf.org">licensing@fsf.org</a>.</p>
19 </blockquote>
20
21 <h3>The Free Software Definition</h3>
22
23 <blockquote>
24 <p>
25 The free software definition presents the criteria for whether a
26 particular software program qualifies as free software. From time to
27 time we revise this definition, to clarify it or to resolve questions
28 about subtle issues. See the <a href="#History">History section</a>
29 below for a list of changes that affect the definition of free
30 software.
31 </p>
32
33 <p>
34 &ldquo;Open source&rdquo; is something different: it has a very
35 different philosophy based on different values. Its practical
36 definition is different too, but nearly all open source programs are
37 in fact free. We explain the
38 difference in <a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">
39 Why &ldquo;Open Source&rdquo; misses the point of Free Software</a>.
40 </p>
41 </blockquote>
42
43 <p>
44 &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; means software that respects users'
45 freedom and community. Roughly, it means that <b>the users have the
46 freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the
47 software</b>. Thus, &ldquo;free software&rdquo; is a matter of
48 liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of
49 &ldquo;free&rdquo; as in &ldquo;free speech,&rdquo; not as in
50 &ldquo;free beer&rdquo;. We sometimes call it &ldquo;libre
51 software,&rdquo; borrowing the French or Spanish word for
52 &ldquo;free&rdquo; as in freedom, to show we do not mean the software
53 is gratis.
54 </p>
55
56 <p>
57 We campaign for these freedoms because everyone deserves them. With
58 these freedoms, the users (both individually and collectively) control
59 the program and what it does for them. When users don't control the
60 program, we call it a &ldquo;nonfree&rdquo; or
61 &ldquo;proprietary&rdquo; program. The nonfree program controls the
62 users, and the developer controls the program; this makes the
63 program <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">
64 an instrument of unjust power</a>.
65 </p>
66
67 <h4> The four essential freedoms</h4>
68
69 <p>
70 A program is free software if the program's users have the
71 four essential freedoms:
72 </p>
73
74 <ul>
75 <li>The freedom to run the program as you wish,
76 for any purpose (freedom 0).</li>
77 <li>The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it
78 does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source
79 code is a precondition for this.
80 </li>
81 <li>The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others
82 (freedom 2).
83 </li>
84 <li>The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions
85 to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole
86 community a chance to benefit from your changes.
87 Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
88 </li>
89 </ul>
90
91 <p>
92 A program is free software if it gives users adequately all of these
93 freedoms. Otherwise, it is nonfree. While we can distinguish various
94 nonfree distribution schemes in terms of how far they fall short of
95 being free, we consider them all equally unethical.</p>
96
97 <p>In any given scenario, these freedoms must apply to whatever code
98 we plan to make use of, or lead others to make use of. For instance,
99 consider a program A which automatically launches a program B to
100 handle some cases. If we plan to distribute A as it stands, that
101 implies users will need B, so we need to judge whether both A and B
102 are free. However, if we plan to modify A so that it doesn't use B,
103 only A needs to be free; B is not pertinent to that plan.</p>
104
105 <p>
106 &ldquo;Free software&rdquo; does not mean &ldquo;noncommercial&rdquo;. A free
107 program must be available for commercial use, commercial development,
108 and commercial distribution. Commercial development of free software
109 is no longer unusual; such free commercial software is very important.
110 You may have paid money to get copies of free software, or you may have
111 obtained copies at no charge. But regardless of how you got your copies,
112 you always have the freedom to copy and change the software, even to
113 <a href="/philosophy/selling.html">sell copies</a>.
114 </p>
115
116 <p>The rest of this page clarifies certain points about what makes
117 specific freedoms adequate or not.</p>
118
119 <h4>The freedom to run the program as you wish</h4>
120
121 <p>
122 The freedom to run the program means the freedom for any kind of person
123 or organization to use it on any kind of computer system, for any kind of
124 overall job and purpose, without being required to communicate about it
125 with the developer or any other specific entity. In this freedom, it is
126 the <em>user's</em> purpose that matters, not the <em>developer's</em>
127 purpose; you as a user are free to run the program for your purposes,
128 and if you distribute it to someone else, she is then free to run it
129 for her purposes, but you are not entitled to impose your purposes on her.
130 </p>
131
132 <p>
133 The freedom to run the program as you wish means that you are not
134 forbidden or stopped from making it run. This has nothing to do with what
135 functionality the program has, whether it is technically capable of
136 functioning in any given environment, or whether it is useful for any
137 particular computing activity.</p>
138
139 <h4>The freedom to study the source code and make changes</h4>
140
141 <p>
142 In order for freedoms 1 and 3 (the freedom to make changes and the
143 freedom to publish the changed versions) to be meaningful, you must have
144 access to the source code of the program. Therefore, accessibility of
145 source code is a necessary condition for free software. Obfuscated
146 &ldquo;source code&rdquo; is not real source code and does not count
147 as source code.
148 </p>
149
150 <p>
151 Freedom 1 includes the freedom to use your changed version in place of
152 the original. If the program is delivered in a product designed to
153 run someone else's modified versions but refuse to run yours &mdash; a
154 practice known as &ldquo;tivoization&rdquo; or &ldquo;lockdown&rdquo;,
155 or (in its practitioners' perverse terminology) as &ldquo;secure
156 boot&rdquo; &mdash; freedom 1 becomes an empty pretense rather than a
157 practical reality. These binaries are not free
158 software even if the source code they are compiled from is free.
159 </p>
160
161 <p>
162 One important way to modify a program is by merging in available free
163 subroutines and modules. If the program's license says that you
164 cannot merge in a suitably licensed existing module &mdash; for instance, if it
165 requires you to be the copyright holder of any code you add &mdash; then the
166 license is too restrictive to qualify as free.
167 </p>
168
169 <p>
170 Whether a change constitutes an improvement is a subjective matter.
171 If your right to modify a program is limited, in substance, to changes that
172 someone else considers an improvement, that program is not free.
173 </p>
174
175 <h4>The freedom to redistribute if you wish: basic requirements</h4>
176
177 <p>Freedom to distribute (freedoms 2 and 3) means you are free to
178 redistribute copies, either with or without modifications, either
179 gratis or charging a fee for distribution, to
180 <a href="#exportcontrol">anyone anywhere</a>. Being free to do these
181 things means (among other things) that you do not have to ask or pay
182 for permission to do so.
183 </p>
184
185 <p>
186 You should also have the freedom to make modifications and use them
187 privately in your own work or play, without even mentioning that they
188 exist. If you do publish your changes, you should not be required to
189 notify anyone in particular, or in any particular way.
190 </p>
191
192 <p>
193 Freedom 3 includes the freedom to release your modified versions
194 as free software. A free license may also permit other ways of
195 releasing them; in other words, it does not have to be
196 a <a href="/copyleft/copyleft.html">copyleft</a> license. However, a
197 license that requires modified versions to be nonfree does not qualify
198 as a free license.
199 </p>
200
201 <p>
202 The freedom to redistribute copies must include binary or executable
203 forms of the program, as well as source code, for both modified and
204 unmodified versions. (Distributing programs in runnable form is necessary
205 for conveniently installable free operating systems.) It is OK if there
206 is no way to produce a binary or executable form for a certain program
207 (since some languages don't support that feature), but you must have the
208 freedom to redistribute such forms should you find or develop a way to
209 make them.
210 </p>
211
212 <h4>Copyleft</h4>
213
214 <p>
215 Certain kinds of rules about the manner of distributing free
216 software are acceptable, when they don't conflict with the central
217 freedoms. For example, <a href="/copyleft/copyleft.html">copyleft</a>
218 (very simply stated) is the rule that when redistributing the program,
219 you cannot add restrictions to deny other people the central freedoms.
220 This rule does not conflict with the central freedoms; rather it
221 protects them.
222 </p>
223
224 <p>
225 In the GNU project, we use copyleft to protect the four freedoms
226 legally for everyone. We believe there are important reasons why
227 <a href="/philosophy/pragmatic.html">it is better to use
228 copyleft</a>. However,
229 <a href="/philosophy/categories.html#Non-CopyleftedFreeSoftware">
230 noncopylefted free software</a> is ethical
231 too. See <a href="/philosophy/categories.html">Categories of Free
232 Software</a> for a description of how &ldquo;free software,&rdquo;
233 &ldquo;copylefted software&rdquo; and other categories of software
234 relate to each other.
235 </p>
236
237 <h4>Rules about packaging and distribution details</h4>
238
239 <p>
240 Rules about how to package a modified version are acceptable,
241 if they don't substantively limit your freedom to release modified
242 versions, or your freedom to make and use modified versions privately.
243 Thus, it is acceptable for the license to require that you change the
244 name of the modified version, remove a logo, or identify your
245 modifications as yours. As long as these requirements are not so
246 burdensome that they effectively hamper you from releasing your
247 changes, they are acceptable; you're already making other changes to
248 the program, so you won't have trouble making a few more.
249 </p>
250
251 <p>
252 Rules that &ldquo;if you make your version available in this way, you
253 must make it available in that way also&rdquo; can be acceptable too,
254 on the same condition. An example of such an acceptable rule is one
255 saying that if you have distributed a
256 modified version and a previous developer asks for a copy of it, you
257 must send one. (Note that such a rule still leaves you the choice of
258 whether to distribute your version at all.) Rules that require release
259 of source code to the users for versions that you put into public use
260 are also acceptable.
261 </p>
262
263 <p>
264 A special issue arises when a license requires changing the name by
265 which the program will be invoked from other programs. That
266 effectively hampers you from releasing your changed version so that it
267 can replace the original when invoked by those other programs. This
268 sort of requirement is acceptable only if there's a suitable aliasing
269 facility that allows you to specify the original program's name as an
270 alias for the modified version.</p>
271
272 <h4>Export regulations</h4>
273
274 <p>
275 Sometimes government <a id="exportcontrol">export control regulations</a>
276 and trade sanctions can constrain your freedom to distribute copies of
277 programs internationally. Software developers do not have the power to
278 eliminate or override these restrictions, but what they can and must do
279 is refuse to impose them as conditions of use of the program. In this
280 way, the restrictions will not affect activities and people outside the
281 jurisdictions of these governments. Thus, free software licenses
282 must not require obedience to any nontrivial export regulations as a
283 condition of exercising any of the essential freedoms.
284 </p>
285
286 <p>
287 Merely mentioning the existence of export regulations, without making
288 them a condition of the license itself, is acceptable since it does
289 not restrict users. If an export regulation is actually trivial for
290 free software, then requiring it as a condition is not an actual
291 problem; however, it is a potential problem, since a later change in
292 export law could make the requirement nontrivial and thus render the
293 software nonfree.
294 </p>
295
296 <h4>Legal considerations</h4>
297
298 <p>
299 In order for these freedoms to be real, they must be permanent and
300 irrevocable as long as you do nothing wrong; if the developer of the
301 software has the power to revoke the license, or retroactively add
302 restrictions to its terms, without your doing anything wrong to give
303 cause, the software is not free.
304 </p>
305
306 <p>
307 A free license may not require compliance with the license of a
308 nonfree program. Thus, for instance, if a license requires you to
309 comply with the licenses of &ldquo;all the programs you use&rdquo;, in
310 the case of a user that runs nonfree programs this would require
311 compliance with the licenses of those nonfree programs; that makes the
312 license nonfree.
313 </p>
314
315 <p>
316 It is acceptable for a free license to specify which jurisdiction's
317 law applies, or where litigation must be done, or both.
318 </p>
319
320 <h4>Contract-based licenses</h4>
321
322 <p>
323 Most free software licenses are based on copyright, and there are limits
324 on what kinds of requirements can be imposed through copyright. If a
325 copyright-based license respects freedom in the ways described above, it
326 is unlikely to have some other sort of problem that we never anticipated
327 (though this does happen occasionally). However, some free software
328 licenses are based on contracts, and contracts can impose a much larger
329 range of possible restrictions. That means there are many possible ways
330 such a license could be unacceptably restrictive and nonfree.
331 </p>
332
333 <p>
334 We can't possibly list all the ways that might happen. If a
335 contract-based license restricts the user in an unusual way that
336 copyright-based licenses cannot, and which isn't mentioned here as
337 legitimate, we will have to think about it, and we will probably conclude
338 it is nonfree.
339 </p>
340
341 <h4>Use the right words when talking about free software</h4>
342
343 <p>
344 When talking about free software, it is best to avoid using terms
345 like &ldquo;give away&rdquo; or &ldquo;for free,&rdquo; because those terms imply that
346 the issue is about price, not freedom. Some common terms such
347 as &ldquo;piracy&rdquo; embody opinions we hope you won't endorse. See
348 <a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html">Confusing Words and Phrases that
349 are Worth Avoiding</a> for a discussion of these terms. We also have
350 a list of proper <a href="/philosophy/fs-translations.html">translations of
351 &ldquo;free software&rdquo;</a> into various languages.
352 </p>
353
354 <h4>How we interpret these criteria</h4>
355
356 <p>
357 Finally, note that criteria such as those stated in this free software
358 definition require careful thought for their interpretation. To decide
359 whether a specific software license qualifies as a free software license,
360 we judge it based on these criteria to determine whether it fits their
361 spirit as well as the precise words. If a license includes unconscionable
362 restrictions, we reject it, even if we did not anticipate the issue
363 in these criteria. Sometimes a license requirement raises an issue
364 that calls for extensive thought, including discussions with a lawyer,
365 before we can decide if the requirement is acceptable. When we reach
366 a conclusion about a new issue, we often update these criteria to make
367 it easier to see why certain licenses do or don't qualify.
368 </p>
369
370 <h4>Get help with free licenses</h4>
371
372 <p>
373 If you are interested in whether a specific license qualifies as a free
374 software license, see our <a href="/licenses/license-list.html">list
375 of licenses</a>. If the license you are concerned with is not
376 listed there, you can ask us about it by sending us email at
377 <a href="mailto:licensing@gnu.org">&lt;licensing@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
378 </p>
379
380 <p>
381 If you are contemplating writing a new license, please contact the
382 Free Software Foundation first by writing to that address. The
383 proliferation of different free software licenses means increased work
384 for users in understanding the licenses; we may be able to help you
385 find an existing free software license that meets your needs.
386 </p>
387
388 <p>
389 If that isn't possible, if you really need a new license, with our
390 help you can ensure that the license really is a free software license
391 and avoid various practical problems.
392 </p>
393
394 <h3 id="beyond-software">Beyond Software</h3>
395
396 <p>
397 <a href="/philosophy/free-doc.html">Software manuals must be free</a>,
398 for the same reasons that software must be free, and because the
399 manuals are in effect part of the software.
400 </p>
401
402 <p>
403 The same arguments also make sense for other kinds of works of
404 practical use &mdash; that is to say, works that embody useful knowledge,
405 such as educational works and reference
406 works. <a href="http://wikipedia.org">Wikipedia</a> is the best-known
407 example.
408 </p>
409
410 <p>
411 Any kind of work <em>can</em> be free, and the definition of free software
412 has been extended to a definition of <a href="http://freedomdefined.org/">
413 free cultural works</a> applicable to any kind of works.
414 </p>
415
416 <h3 id="open-source">Open Source?</h3>
417
418 <p>
419 Another group uses the term &ldquo;open source&rdquo; to mean
420 something close (but not identical) to &ldquo;free software&rdquo;. We
421 prefer the term &ldquo;free software&rdquo; because, once you have heard that
422 it refers to freedom rather than price, it calls to mind freedom. The
423 word &ldquo;open&rdquo; <a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">
424 never refers to freedom</a>.
425 </p>
426
427 <h3 id="History">History</h3>
428
429 <p>From time to time we revise this Free Software Definition. Here is
430 the list of substantive changes, along with links to show exactly what
431 was changed.</p>
432
433 <ul>
434
435 <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
436 1.153</a>: Clarify that freedom to run the program means nothing stops
437 you from making it run.</li>
438
439 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.140&amp;r2=1.141">Version
440 1.141</a>: Clarify which code needs to be free.</li>
441
442 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.134&amp;r2=1.135">Version
443 1.135</a>: Say each time that freedom 0 is the freedom to run the program
444 as you wish.</li>
445
446 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.133&amp;r2=1.134">Version
447 1.134</a>: Freedom 0 is not a matter of the program's functionality.</li>
448
449 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.130&amp;r2=1.131">Version
450 1.131</a>: A free license may not require compliance with a nonfree license
451 of another program.</li>
452
453 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.128&amp;r2=1.129">Version
454 1.129</a>: State explicitly that choice of law and choice of forum
455 specifications are allowed. (This was always our policy.)</li>
456
457 <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
458 1.122</a>: An export control requirement is a real problem if the
459 requirement is nontrivial; otherwise it is only a potential problem.</li>
460
461 <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
462 1.118</a>: Clarification: the issue is limits on your right to modify,
463 not on what modifications you have made. And modifications are not limited
464 to &ldquo;improvements&rdquo;</li>
465
466 <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
467 1.111</a>: Clarify 1.77 by saying that only
468 retroactive <em>restrictions</em> are unacceptable. The copyright
469 holders can always grant additional <em>permission</em> for use of the
470 work by releasing the work in another way in parallel.</li>
471
472 <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
473 1.105</a>: Reflect, in the brief statement of freedom 1, the point
474 (already stated in version 1.80) that it includes really using your modified
475 version for your computing.</li>
476
477 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.91&amp;r2=1.92">Version
478 1.92</a>: Clarify that obfuscated code does not qualify as source code.</li>
479
480 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.89&amp;r2=1.90">Version
481 1.90</a>: Clarify that freedom 3 means the right to distribute copies
482 of your own modified or improved version, not a right to participate
483 in someone else's development project.</li>
484
485 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.88&amp;r2=1.89">Version
486 1.89</a>: Freedom 3 includes the right to release modified versions as
487 free software.</li>
488
489 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.79&amp;r2=1.80">Version
490 1.80</a>: Freedom 1 must be practical, not just theoretical;
491 i.e., no tivoization.</li>
492
493 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.76&amp;r2=1.77">Version
494 1.77</a>: Clarify that all retroactive changes to the license are
495 unacceptable, even if it's not described as a complete
496 replacement.</li>
497
498 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.73&amp;r2=1.74">Version
499 1.74</a>: Four clarifications of points not explicit enough, or stated
500 in some places but not reflected everywhere:
501 <ul>
502 <li>"Improvements" does not mean the license can
503 substantively limit what kinds of modified versions you can release.
504 Freedom 3 includes distributing modified versions, not just changes.</li>
505 <li>The right to merge in existing modules
506 refers to those that are suitably licensed.</li>
507 <li>Explicitly state the conclusion of the point about export controls.</li>
508 <li>Imposing a license change constitutes revoking the old license.</li>
509 </ul>
510 </li>
511
512 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.56&amp;r2=1.57">Version
513 1.57</a>: Add &quot;Beyond Software&quot; section.</li>
514
515 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.45&amp;r2=1.46">Version
516 1.46</a>: Clarify whose purpose is significant in the freedom to run
517 the program for any purpose.</li>
518
519 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.40&amp;r2=1.41">Version
520 1.41</a>: Clarify wording about contract-based licenses.</li>
521
522 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.39&amp;r2=1.40">Version
523 1.40</a>: Explain that a free license must allow to you use other
524 available free software to create your modifications.</li>
525
526 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.38&amp;r2=1.39">Version
527 1.39</a>: Note that it is acceptable for a license to require you to
528 provide source for versions of the software you put into public
529 use.</li>
530
531 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.30&amp;r2=1.31">Version
532 1.31</a>: Note that it is acceptable for a license to require you to
533 identify yourself as the author of modifications. Other minor
534 clarifications throughout the text.</li>
535
536 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.22&amp;r2=1.23">Version
537 1.23</a>: Address potential problems related to contract-based
538 licenses.</li>
539
540 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.15&amp;r2=1.16">Version
541 1.16</a>: Explain why distribution of binaries is important.</li>
542
543 <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;r1=1.10&amp;r2=1.11">Version
544 1.11</a>: Note that a free license may require you to send a copy of
545 versions you distribute to previous developers on request.</li>
546
547 </ul>
548
549 <p>There are gaps in the version numbers shown above because there are
550 other changes in this page that do not affect the definition or its
551 interpretations. For instance, the list does not include changes in
552 asides, formatting, spelling, punctuation, or other parts of the page.
553 You can review the complete list of changes to the page through
554 the <a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&amp;view=log">cvsweb
555 interface</a>.</p>
556
557
558 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
559 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
560 <div id="footer">
561 <div class="unprintable">
562
563 <p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
564 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
565 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
566 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
567 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
568
569 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
570 replace it with the translation of these two:
571
572 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
573 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
574 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
575 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org">
576 &lt;web-translators@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
577
578 <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of
579 our web pages, see <a
580 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
581 README</a>. -->
582 Please see the <a
583 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
584 README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
585 of this article.</p>
586 </div>
587
588 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
589 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
590 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this
591 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
592 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
593 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
594 document was modified, or published.
595
596 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too.
597 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying
598 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable
599 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including
600 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system).
601
602 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
603 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->
604
605 <p>Copyright &copy; 1996, 2002, 2004-2007, 2009-2018
606 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
607
608 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
609 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
610 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
611
612 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
613
614 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
615 <!-- timestamp start -->
616 $Date: 2018/03/31 00:52:50 $
617 <!-- timestamp end -->
618 </p>
619 </div>
620 </div>
621 </body>
622 </html>

savannah-hackers-public@gnu.org
ViewVC Help
Powered by ViewVC 1.1.26