The GNU Manifesto | Page 2

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
(Nowadays, for software tasks to work on, see the GNU task list. For other ways to
contribute, see http://www.gnu.org/help.)
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.(2)
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