Message-Id: <9204131416.AA28109@cs.kun.nl> To: usenet.hist@weber.ucsd.edu Cc: lwj@cs.kun.nl From: Luc Rooijakkers Subject: GNU announcement Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 16:16:30 +0200 Sender: lwj@cs.kun.nl Is someone interested in this? I didn't get anything else from Rich, so presumably he hasn't got more. Didn't rms get flamed for this? One would expect so, but perhaps usenet was a nicer place in those days (I wasn't there yet by a long shot). ------- Forwarded Message From: rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu (Rich Kulawiec) Message-Id: <9203041402.AA10807@gynko.circ.upenn.edu> Subject: Re: Gnu/OS (was Re: UP) To: lwj@cs.kun.nl Date: Wed, 4 Mar 92 9:02:31 EST Organization: Cardiothoracic Imaging Research Center >Could you possible send me the complete message? I would like to read it >in its entirety. If you have additional discussion (responses etc) on >that subject I would like to read those too. Sure, no problem. I knew there was a reason I kept this all these years! :-) I'll also check through the archives to see if I have any of the contemporary comments on it -- a quick scan this morning over coffee didn't reveal anything, but I was barely awake, so perhaps I should try again when I'm more alive. Cheers, Rich > 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 > > ------- End of Forwarded Message