Datasheet

Part I: Getting Your Feet Wet

As you may or may not have gathered by this point, widespread and acces-

sible source code is paramount to successful software development. Source

code is the term for the human-readable text (as opposed to the unreadable

cyber-hieroglyphics in an “executable” file) that a programmer types to com-

municate instructions to the computer.

Writing computer programs in binary is an extremely arduous task. Modern

computer software is usually written in a human-friendly language and then

compiled, or translated, into the computer’s native instruction set. To make

changes to this software, a programmer needs access to a program’s source

code. Most proprietary software comes only as a precompiled product; the

software developer keeps the source code for those programs under lock

and key.

After determining that his operating system would be built around the con-

ceptual framework of UNIX, Stallman wanted the project name to distinguish

his system from UNIX. So he chose the recursive acronym GNU (pronounced

ga-new), which means “GNU’s not UNIX.”

To finance the GNU project, Stallman organized the Free Software Foundation

(FSF), which sold free (that is, open-source) software to help feed the pro-

grammers who worked on its continuing development. (Remember, we’re

talking free as in free speech, not as in free beer.) Although this organization

(and its goal of creating a complete operating system) was necessary and

important, a much more important piece of the puzzle had to be put into

place. The new software needed a license to protect it from big-business

pirates — a concern still all too relevant today as a former Linux company

tries to hijack ownership of decades of volunteer work from thousands of

people around the world.

The GNU General Public License (GPL) is a unique and creative software

license that uses copyright law to protect the freedom of the software user,

which is usually the opposite of how a copyright works. Generally, a copy-

right is an enforceable designation of ownership and restriction from duplica-

tion by anyone but the copyright holder. When software is licensed under the

GPL, recipients are bound by copyright law to respect the freedom of anyone

else to use the software in any way they choose. Software licensed with the

GPL is also known as copyleft software (the reverse of right, get it?). Another

way to remember the GPL is through its ultimate result: Guaranteed Public

for Life.

While Stallman’s work set the stage for Linux’s rapid climb to popularity,

the operating system he and his crew were working on took longer than

expected. If you’re interested in the completed version, go to www.gnu.org/

software/hurd/hurd.html.