https://gnu.org

The GNU Operating System and the Free Software MovementGNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, Linux, Emacs, GCC, Unix, Free Software, Libre Software, Operating System, GNU Kernel, GNU HurdSince 1983, developing the free Unix style operating system GNU, so that computer users can have the freedom to share and improve the software they use.The GNU Operating System and the Free Software Movement Skip to main text Free Software Supporter: JOIN THE FSF GNU Operating System Supported by the Free Software Foundation Site navigation Skip ABOUT GNU PHILOSOPHY LICENSES EDUCATION SOFTWARE DISTROS DOCS MALWARE HELP GNU AUDIO & VIDEO GNU ART FUN GNU'S WHO? SOFTWARE DIRECTORY HARDWARE SITEMAP GNU is the only operating system developed specifically to give its users freedom. What is GNU, and what freedom is at stake? Escape to Freedom: A video from the FSF What is GNU? GNU is an operating system that is free software—that is, it respects users' freedom. The GNU operating system consists of GNU packages (programs specifically released by the GNU Project) as well as free software released by third parties. The development of GNU made it possible to use a computer without software that would trample your freedom. We recommend installable versions of GNU (more precisely, GNU/Linux distributions) which are entirely free software. More about GNU below. Try GNU/Linux Dragora 3.0-beta2 with TDE desktop Dragora / TDE Guix / GNOME3 Hyperbola / i3 Parabola / LXDE PureOS / GNOME3 Trisquel / MATE ... or Try parts of GNU What is the Free Software Movement? The free software movement campaigns to win for the users of computing the freedom that comes from free software. Free software puts its users in control of their own computing. Nonfree software puts its users under the power of the software's developer. See the video explanation. What is Free Software? Free software means the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the 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.” More precisely, free software means users of a program have the four essential freedoms: The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0). The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2). The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. Developments in technology and network use have made these freedoms even more important now than they were in 1983. Nowadays the free software movement goes far beyond developing the GNU system. See the Free Software Foundation's web site for more about what we do, and a list of ways you can help. More about GNU GNU is a Unix-like operating system. That means it is a collection of many programs: applications, libraries, developer tools, even games. The development of GNU, started in January 1984, is known as the GNU Project. Many of the programs in GNU are released under the auspices of the GNU Project; those we call GNU packages. The name “GNU” is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix.” “GNU” is pronounced g'noo, as one syllable, like saying “grew” but replacing the r with n. The program in a Unix-like system that allocates machine resources and talks to the hardware is called the “kernel.” GNU is typically used with a kernel called Linux. This combination is the GNU/Linux operating system. GNU/Linux is used by millions, though many call it “Linux” by mistake. GNU's own kernel, the GNU Hurd, was started in 1990 (before Linux was started). Volunteers continue developing the Hurd because it is an interesting technical project. More information As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously. —Benjamin Franklin This year, choose Freedom as a gift. Ethical Tech Giving Guide The GNU Project strongly urges the community to communicate in ways that are friendly, welcoming and kind. See the GNU Kind Communications Guidelines. Planet GNU Pick up some Sourceware infrastructure tips and tricks with Ian Kelling at GNU Cauldron in Prague on September 16 Unifont 16.0.01 Released: 10 September 2024 Unifont 16.0.01 is now available. This is a major release. From the NEWS file: * Updates to synchronize Unifont with Unicode 16.0.0 release. * Many... Free Software Directory meeting on IRC: Friday, September 13, starting at 12:00 EDT (16:00 UTC): Join the FSF and friends on Friday, September 13 from 12:00 to 15:00 EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC)... Take Action Support current FSF campaigns. Sign the petition for freedom in the classroom. Join the Copilot Watch Group. More action items Can you help GNU with any of these projects? GNU high priority enhancement projects Free program to subtract background music Can you contribute to any of the long-term high priority projects? Can you help maintain a GNU package? These packages are looking for maintainers: cfengine, halifax, quickthreads, guile-sdl, superopt Also, these packages are looking for co-maintainers: aspell, bison, gnuae, gnubik, metaexchange, powerguru, xboard. See the package web pages for more information. Recent GNU releases Short descriptions for all GNU packages Today's random package… GnuTLS GnuTLS is a secure communications library implementing the SSL, TLS, and DTLS protocols. It is provided in the form of a C library to support the protocols, as well as to parse and write X.509, PKCS 12, OpenPGP, and other required structures. (doc) ▲ BACK TO TOP Set language Available for this page: [en] English   [de] Deutsch   [es] español   [fa] فارسی   [fr] français   [it] italiano   [ja] 日本語   [nl] Nederlands   [pt-br] português   [ru] русский   [sq] Shqip   [tr] Türkçe   [zh-cn] 简体中文   [zh-tw] 繁體中文   BACK TO TOP ▲ “The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom. We defend the rights of all software users.” JOIN DONATE SHOP The FSF also has sister organizations in Europe, Latin America and India. Feel free to join them! Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to . There are also other ways to contact the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent to . Please see the Translations README for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this article. Copyright © 1996-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Copyright Infringement Notification Updated: $Date: 2024/05/17 06:04:04 $

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