Free and Open Source Software
"Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ‘free’ as in ‘free speech,’ not as in ‘free beer.’"
—Richard Stallman
Definition: FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is software that gives users the freedom to run, study, modify, and share it, combining the spirit of community-driven development with openness and collaboration. It differs from purely Open Source software in that there are deemed to be fundamental freedoms rather than simply access to the source code (see below).
Simply having the source does not give the freedom to study and use if you don't have the toolchain required to compile and use the code. True Libre means having the tools to use it, software like GNU's gcc (GNU compiler collection) for example. Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation developed and released software that was both freely available and with no limitations on its use, meaning total freedom to use as one wishes freely, hence Red Star Linux has the freedom to restrict and oppress the citizens of North Korea.
Stallman, GNU and FSF
One can hardly take a step into the FOSS world without running across something about Richard Stallman. In many ways, he is the originator of the movement. In 1983, he launched the GNU Project to create a free Unix-like operating system. He introduced the term "free software" and emphasized the importance of user freedom over price. In so doing he (and others) developed a number of tools that a Unix-like OS would need. Compilers, editors and many other utilities were developed, leading the way for Linus Torvalds to be able to create and release the kernel we have come to know as linux.
in 1989, through the Free Software Foundation, Stallman released the GNU General Public License (GPL). GPL is a a key legal framework that allowed software to be freely used, modified, and redistributed under specific conditions. this is really the basis of many, if not most open source projects.
Stallman argues that open source code does not necessarily mean free software by his definition. many projects have source code available 9even, now the code for such things as MS-DOS v.1!) but if it does not include the freedom to change and distribute those changes, it is not truly free as in speech. for this reason, he dislikes the term "open source", and often refers to "free, libre open source software" as the only true open software. I consider that he has a point, and i try to follow his principles as closely as I practically can.
xclip -o | wc -w
412