''The Free Software Definition'' is a policy document written by
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman ( ; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
and published by the
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985. The organisation supports the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...
(FSF). It defines
free software
Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
as software that grants users the freedom to use, study, share, and modify the software. The term "free" is used in the sense of "free speech", not "free of charge".
The earliest known publication of the definition appeared in the February 1986 edition of the now-discontinued ''GNU's Bulletin'' published by the FSF.
Since 1996, the official version of the document has been maintained in the philosophy section of the
GNU Project
The GNU Project ( ) is a free software, mass collaboration project announced by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983. Its goal is to give computer users freedom and control in their use of their computers and Computer hardware, computing dev ...
website. , the definition had seen 27 major revisions since it was originally published online and it had been translated into 65 languages. The FSF also publishes a
list of licenses that meet this definition.
The Four Essential Freedoms
The definition published by the FSF in 1986 originally listed two key points:
In 1996, when the GNU Project website was launched, the definition was expanded to include "three levels of freedom", explicitly adding the freedom to study the software (which had been implied in the original). Stallman later discouraged describing them as "levels," noting that all freedoms are equally essential.
A fourth freedom was later introduced to explicitly affirm the user's right to run the program. Because it was seen as more fundamental than the others, it was placed first. Since the existing freedoms were numbered one through three, this new one was designated "freedom zero". Such
zero-based numbering, where counting begins at zero, is also a common convention in computer programming.
The modern definition states that a program is free software if it grants users the following four essential freedoms:
Freedoms 1 and 3 require
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
to be available, as studying and modifying software without source code is impractical.
Later definitions
In July 1997,
Bruce Perens published the
Debian Free Software Guidelines.
A definition based on the DFSG was later adopted by the
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a California public benefit corporation "actively involved in Open Source community-building, education, and public advocacy to promote awareness and the importance of non-proprietary software".
Governance
The ...
(OSI) under the name ''
The Open Source Definition''.
Comparison with the Open Source Definition
Despite philosophical differences between the
free software movement
The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for user (computing), software users, namely the freedoms to run, study, modify, and share copies of software. Software which meets thes ...
and the
open-source movement, the FSF's definition of free software and the OSI's definition of open-source software describe largely overlapping sets of licenses, with only a few minor differences. While emphasizing these philosophical distinctions, the FSF states:
See also
*
Free software movement
The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for user (computing), software users, namely the freedoms to run, study, modify, and share copies of software. Software which meets thes ...
(FSM)
* The ''
GNU Manifesto
__NOTOC__
The ''GNU Manifesto'' is a direct action, call-to-action by Richard Stallman encouraging participation and support of the GNU Project's goal in developing the GNU free software, free computer operating system. The GNU Manifesto was publ ...
''
*
Definition of Free Cultural Works
*
Debian Free Software Guidelines
* ''
The Open Source Definition''
References
External links
The Free Software Definition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free Software Definition, The
Free software
Free Software Foundation
Definitions