內容概述
“GNU 宣言”一文乃是由 Richard Stallman 在 GNU 計畫剛開始進行時所撰寫，以爭取其它人的加入及支持。在剛開始的幾年，隨著計畫的發展，本文有些許的修訂，但是現在看來最好保持目前最多人所看過的版本而不再做修訂。
從那時起，我們慢慢熟悉不同的用字可以避免某些特定的誤解。在1993年所增加的註解可以澄清這些疑點。
想獲知 GNU 軟體的最新動態，請參考最新版的 GNU's Bulletin。這份列表因為太長，所以不在此引用。
什麼是GNU? Gnu's Not Unix!
GNU，Gnu's Not Unix 的縮寫，是我正在寫的一個與 UNIX 兼容的軟體系統，目的在於我能夠自由的把此系統給想要用它的人。(1) 有一些自願者在給予我幫助。我們非常的需要（希望）您也能夠貢獻時間、金錢、程式或者是設備來參加此計畫。
到目前為止我們已經有了一個利用 Lisp 編寫的Emacs文本編輯器，一個原碼級的調試器，一個與 yacc 兼容的語法分析器，一個連線器，和大概 35 個應用程式。有一個 shell （命令解釋器）已經接近完成。一個新的、具可移植性的、有最佳化功能的C編譯器已經可以自我編譯，並應可以在今年發布。還有一個初具規模的核心但是需要更多的特性以模擬 UNIX。當核心和編譯器工作完成後，我們就能夠發布一個適合軟體開發的 GNU 系統。我們會使用 TeX 作我們的文本編輯器，但是也正在編寫一個 nroff。我們也會用免費的、具可移植性的 X 視窗系統。之後我們會加一個可移植的 Common Lisp、一個 Empire 遊戲、一個電子表格軟體、和其他各式各樣的東西，以及線上的文檔。我們希望最後能提供普通 UNIX 系統所能提供的每一件有用的東西，甚至還要更多。
GNU 將能夠執行 Unix 的程式，但是不會和 Unix 完全一樣。我們會根據我們在其它作業系統上的經驗來改進所有可以增加便利性的地方。特別是我們計畫擁有支持更長檔案名稱、檔案版本號、一個不怕當機的檔案系統，或許還要有自動檔案名稱補全、與終端機無關的顯示支持、可能最後還要有一個基於Lisp的視窗系統，以使好幾個 Lisp 程式和普通的 Unix 程式能共享同一螢幕。C 和 Lisp 都將成為系統的程式語言。我們會設法支持 UUCP，MIT Chaosnet，及 Internet 的通訊協定。
GNU 最初的目標是在有虛擬記憶體的 68000/16000 系列機器上開發，因為這樣的環境是最容易開發程式來實現 GNU 的運行。剩下來讓 GNU 能在其它較小的機器上運行的工作，將會留給那些希望能在這些機器上使用的人。
我為什麼一定要寫GNU
我認為：如果我喜歡一個程式的話，那我就應該分享給其他喜歡這個程式的人。這句話是我的金科玉律。軟體商想各個擊破用戶，使他們同意不把軟體和他人分享。我拒絕以這種方式破壞用戶的團結。我的良心使我不會簽下一個不開放的契約或是軟體授權契約。有好幾年我一直在 MIT AI 實驗室對抗這種趨勢與冷漠，但是最後事情糟糕到：我沒辦法在一個處理事情的方法與我的意願相違的機構呆下去。
為了我能繼續使用電腦而不感到羞愧，我決定要收集足夠數量的自由軟體以使我能夠不使用那些沒有自由的軟體。我離開 AI 實驗室為的就是不給 MIT 有任何法律上的藉口來阻止我把 GNU 送給其他人。
為了避免令人不悅的混淆，請各位提到此計畫的名字‘GNU’時務必要把‘G’的音發出來。
為什麼GNU將會和UNIX兼容
Unix並不是我理想的系統，但是它也不太差。Unix 基本的特性看來似乎是挺不錯的，而且我想我能夠在不犧牲原有特性之下加進 Unix 缺少的東西。況且一個和 Unix 兼容的系統也比較容易讓較多的人接受。
如何獲取GNU
GNU不是公共的，毫無約束的軟體（public domain）。我們將會允許每一個人修改及傳播 GNU，但是絕不允許傳播者對他傳播的程式再加進其他的限制。也就是說，不允許將修改後的程式據為己有。我希望能確保 GNU 所有的版本都能保持自由。
GNU宣言原文
The GNU Manifesto
Copyright (C) 1985 Richard M. Stallman
(Copying permission notice at the end.)
What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix!
GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete
Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it
away free to everyone who can use it. Several other volunteers are helping
me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly
needed.
So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor commands,
a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator, a linker, and
around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is nearly completed. A
new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled itself and may be released
^^^^^^?
this year. An initial kernel exists but many more features are needed to
emulate Unix. When the kernel and compiler are finished, it will be
possible to distribute a GNU system suitable for program development. We
^^^^^
will use @TeX{} as our text formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We
will use the free, portable X window system as well. After this we will
add a portable Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of
other things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually,
everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more.
GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix.
We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience
with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to have longer
filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, filename
completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and perhaps
eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several Lisp programs
and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C and Lisp will be
available as system programming languages. We will try to support UUCP,
MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for communication.
GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with virtual
memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run on. The extra
effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left to someone who wants
to use it on them.
To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word `GNU'
when it is the name of this project.
Who Am I?
I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original much-imitated EMACS editor,
formerly at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. I have worked
extensively on compilers, editors, debuggers, command interpreters, the
Incompatible Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine operating system. I
^^^^^%@#@#!@#
pioneered terminal-independent display support in ITS. Since then I have
implemented one crashproof file system and two window systems for Lisp
machines, and designed a third window system now being implemented; this
one will be ported to many systems including use in GNU. [Historical note:
The window system project was not completed; GNU now plans to use the
X window system.]
Why I Must Write GNU
I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must
share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to divide
the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with
others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this way. I
cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software
license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial Intelligence
Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities, but eventually
they had gone too far: I could not remain in an institution where such
things are done for me against my will.
So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have decided to
put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to
get along without any software that is not free. I have resigned from the
AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent me from giving GNU away.
Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix
Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential features
of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what Unix lacks
without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix would be
convenient for many other people to adopt.
How GNU Will Be Available
GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to modify and
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to restrict its
further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary modifications will not
be allowed. I want to make sure that all versions of GNU remain free.
Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help
I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and want to
help.
Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system
software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them to
feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel as
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the
sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used essentially
^^^^^
forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The purchaser of software
must choose between friendship and obeying the law. Naturally, many decide
that friendship is more important. But those who believe in law often do
not feel at ease with either choice. They become cynical and think that
programming is just a way of making money.
By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can be
hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as an
example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in sharing.
This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if we use
software that is not free. For about half the programmers I talk to, this
is an important happiness that money cannot replace.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How You Can Contribute
I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money.
I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work.
One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU will run
on them at an early date. The machines should be complete, ready to use
systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not in need of
sophisticated cooling or power.
I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time work for
GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would be very hard
to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not work together.
But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent. A
complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility programs, each of which
is documented separately. Most interface specifications are fixed by Unix
compatibility. If each contributor can write a compatible replacement for
a single Unix utility, and make it work properly in place of the original
on a Unix system, then these utilities will work right when put together.
Even allowing for Murphy to create a few unexpected problems, assembling
these components will be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer
communication and will be worked on by a small, tight group.)
If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or
part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but I'm
looking for people for whom building community spirit is as important as
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote
their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a
living in another way.
Why All Computer Users Will Benefit
Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software
free, just like air.
This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix license.
It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will
be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the
art.
Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, a user
who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself,
or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him. Users
will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the
sources and is in sole position to make changes.
Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by
encouraging all students to study and improve the system code. Harvard's
computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be installed on
the system if its sources were not on public display, and upheld it by
actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very much inspired by
this.
Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software and what
one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted.
Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including licensing of
copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through the cumbersome
mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is, which programs) a
person must pay for. And only a police state can force everyone to obey
them. Consider a space station where air must be manufactured at great
cost: charging each breather per liter of air may be fair, but wearing the
metered gas mask all day and all night is intolerable even if everyone can
afford to pay the air bill. And the TV cameras everywhere to see if you
ever take the mask off are outrageous. It's better to support the air
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
plant with a head tax and chuck the masks.
Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as
breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free.
^^^^^^^ ? as productive as breathing?
Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals
"Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means
they can't rely on any support."
"You have to charge for the program
to pay for providing the support."
If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free without
service, a company to provide just service to people who have obtained GNU
free ought to be profitable.
We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming work
and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on from a
^^^^^^^^^
software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough people, the
vendor will tell you to get lost.
If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way is to
have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any available
person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any individual.
With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of consideration for most
businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is still possible for there to
be no available competent person, but this problem cannot be blamed on
distribution arrangements. GNU does not eliminate all the world's problems,
only some of them.
Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need handholding:
^^^^^^^^^^
doing things for them which they could easily do themselves but don't know
how.
Such services could be provided by companies that sell just hand-holding
and repair service. If it is true that users would rather spend money and
get a product with service, they will also be willing to buy the service
having got the product free. The service companies will compete in quality
and price; users will not be tied to any particular one. Meanwhile, those
of us who don't need the service should be able to use the program without
paying for the service.
"You cannot reach many people without advertising,
and you must charge for the program to support that."
"It's no use advertising a program people can get free."
There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be used to
inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But it may be
true that one can reach more microcomputer users with advertising. If this
is really so, a business which advertises the service of copying and
mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful enough to pay for its
advertising and more. This way, only the users who benefit from the
^^^^^^^^^
advertising pay for it.
On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and such
companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not really
necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates don't want
to let the free market decide this?
"My company needs a proprietary operating system
to get a competitive edge."
GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of competition.
You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but neither will your
competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and they will compete in
other areas, while benefitting mutually in this one. If your business is
selling an operating system, you will not like GNU, but that's tough on
you. If your business is something else, GNU can save you from being
pushed into the expensive business of selling operating systems.
I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many
manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.
"Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?"
If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution. Creativity can
be a social contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the
results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative
programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict
the use of these programs.
"Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his creativity?"
There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to maximize
one's income, as long as one does not use means that are destructive. But
the means customary in the field of software today are based on
destruction.
Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of it is
destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ways that
the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth that humanity
??????????????????????????????????????????????
derives from the program. When there is a deliberate choice to restrict,
the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction.
The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to become
wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become poorer from the
mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or, the Golden Rule.
Since I do not like the consequences that result if everyone hoards
information, I am required to consider it wrong for one to do so.
Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that creativity.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Won't programmers starve?"
I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us cannot
manage to get any money for standing on the street and making faces. But
we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives standing on the
street making faces, and starving. We do something else.
But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's implicit
assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers cannot possibly
be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be
possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as
now.
Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. It is
the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it were
prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would move to
other bases of organization which are now used less often. There are
always numerous ways to organize any kind of business.
Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it is
now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not considered
an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they now do. If
programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice either. (In
practice they would still make considerably more than that.)
"Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is used?"
"Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over other
people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult.
People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights carefully
(such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to intellectual
property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property rights that the
government recognizes were created by specific acts of legislation for
specific purposes.
For example, the patent system was established to encourage inventors to
disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was to help society
rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life span of 17 years for
a patent was short compared with the rate of advance of the state of the
art. Since patents are an issue only among manufacturers, for whom the
cost and effort of a license agreement are small compared with setting up
production, the patents often do not do much harm. They do not obstruct
most individuals who use patented products.
The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors
frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This
practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived
even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for the purpose
of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was invented--books,
which could be copied economically only on a printing press--it did little
harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals who read the books.
All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society
because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole would
benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we have to ask:
??????????????????????????????
are we really better off granting such license? What kind of act are we
licensing a person to do?
The case of programs today is very different from that of books a hundred
years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is from one
neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source code and
object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is used rather
than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in which a person who
enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole both materially and
spiritually; in which a person should not do so regardless of whether the
law enables him to.
"Competition makes things get done better."
The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we
encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this way,
it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it always works
this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered and become
intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other strategies--such as,
attacking other runners. If the runners get into a fist fight, they will
all finish late.
Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners in a
fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem to
object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you run, you
are allowed one kick."). He really ought to break them up, and penalize
runners for even trying to fight.
"Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?"
Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary incentive.
Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, usually the
people who are best at it. There is no shortage of professional musicians
who keep at it even though they have no hope of making a living that way.
But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate to the
situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become less. So
the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced monetary
incentive? My experience shows that they will.
For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked at the
Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could have had
anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: fame and
appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a reward in itself.
Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same interesting
work for a lot of money.
What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other than
riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they will
come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly in
competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly if the
high-paying ones are banned.
"We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we
stop helping our neighbors, we have to obey."
You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand.
Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute!
"Programmers need to make a living somehow."
In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways that
programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a program.
This way is customary now because it brings programmers and businessmen the
most money, not because it is the only way to make a living. It is easy to
find other ways if you want to find them. Here are a number of examples.
A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of
operating systems onto the new hardware.
The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could also
employ programmers.
People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking for
donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services. I have
met people who are already working this way successfully.
Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A group
would contract with programming companies to write programs that the
group's members would like to use.
All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax:
Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of
the price as a software tax. The government gives this to
an agency like the NSF to spend on software development.
But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development
himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to
the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to
use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any amount
of donation up to the total tax he had to pay.
The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of
the tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on.
The consequences:
* the computer-using community supports software development.
* this community decides what level of support is needed.
* users who care which projects their share is spent on
can choose this for themselves.
In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the post-scarcity
world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to make a living.
People will be free to devote themselves to activities that are fun,
such as programming, after spending the necessary ten hours a week
on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot
repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be able
to make a living from programming.
We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole
society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this
has translated itself into leisure for workers because much
nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity.
The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles
^^^^^^^^^^^^
against competition. Free software will greatly reduce these
drains in the area of software production. We must do this,
in order for technical gains in productivity to translate into
less work for us.
Copyright (C) 1985 Richard M. Stallman
Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
^^^^^^^^^
of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
copyright notice and permission notice are preserved,
and that the distributor grants the recipient permission
for further redistribution as permitted by this notice.
Modified versions may not be made.
註：標^^^^^與?????的地方翻譯可能語意與原文不合。
