I found this in my
Netscape bookmarks and thought it was
of interest, and it doesn't seem to have been noded yet. Note all the to-do about
Lisp. The
window system has been
irrelevanted by
X11, I suppose, though
X11 has its issues and some of us have hopes for the
Berlin project. I narrowed the paragraphs for the sake of
E2's layout, and I also
bisected the
bang path in the first line, but if you're able to make use of it, you can probably figure out how to
paste the lines together. I seem to recall that it's
shift+J in
vi. It's probably not a valid address any more anyway. Note also the pre-
Great Renaming newsgroup names. It's like,
archaeological, no?
From CSvax:pur-ee:inuxc!ixn5c!ihnp4!houxm!mhuxi
!eagle!mit-vax!mit-eddie!RMS@MIT-OZ
From: RMS%MIT-OZ@mit-eddie
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.usoft
Subject: new UNIX implementation
Date: Tue, 27-Sep-83 12:35:59 EST
Organization: MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Free Unix!
Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a
complete Unix-compatible software system called
GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and give it away free to
everyone who can use it. Contributions of time,
money, programs and equipment are greatly needed.
To begin with, GNU will be a kernel plus all the
utilities needed to write and run C programs:
editor, shell, C compiler, linker, assembler, and
a few other things. After this we will add a text
formatter, a YACC, an Empire game, a spreadsheet,
and hundreds of other things. We hope to supply,
eventually, everything useful that normally comes
with a Unix system, and anything else useful,
including on-line and hardcopy documentation.
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 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 have network
software based on MIT's chaosnet protocol, far
superior to UUCP. We may also have something
compatible with UUCP.
Who Am I?
I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original
much-imitated EMACS editor, now 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. In addition I have implemented one
crashproof file system and two window systems for
Lisp machines.
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. I cannot in good conscience sign a
nondisclosure agreement or a software license
agreement.
So that I can continue to use computers without
violating my principles, 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.
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 computer manufacturer has already offered to
provide a machine. But we could use more. One
consequence you can expect if you donate machines
is that GNU will run on them at an early date.
The machine had better be able to operate in a
residential area, and not require sophisticated
cooling or power.
Individual programmers can contribute by writing a
compatible duplicate of some Unix utility and
giving it to me. 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. Most
interface specifications are fixed by Unix
compatibility. If each contribution works with
the rest of Unix, it will probably work with the
rest of GNU.
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, but I'm looking for people for whom
knowing they are helping humanity is as important
as 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.
For more information, contact me.
Arpanet mail:
RMS@MIT-MC.ARPA
Usenet:
...!mit-eddie!RMS@OZ
...!mit-vax!RMS@OZ
US Snail:
Richard Stallman
166 Prospect St
Cambridge, MA 02139