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| author | Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org> | 2016-02-27 16:06:24 +0100 |
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| committer | Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org> | 2016-02-27 16:06:24 +0100 |
| commit | 9bc6e42b63e352cfec2afcd2ff66939f6628fd7e (patch) | |
| tree | 169fa7a35a26d19a8bc9828341b1e03aa2dd8ec9 /examples/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html | |
| parent | da09a394b3eab66d2a0a649df836b0ab98b056ad (diff) | |
| parent | 1b46587b4d36bec34d502bb0470dd303e4b49dd5 (diff) | |
Merge branch 'master' of ssh://taler.net/var/git/merchant
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diff --git a/examples/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html b/examples/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..09730baa --- /dev/null +++ b/examples/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html @@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> +<html><!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. + +Free Software Foundation + +51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor + +Boston, MA 02110-1335 +Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted +worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is +preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations +of this book from the original English into another language provided +the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and +the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all +copies. + +ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9 +Cover design by Rob Myers. + +Cover photograph by Peter Hinely. + --><!-- Created on February 18, 2016 by texi2html 1.82 +texi2html was written by: + Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author) + Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org> + Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de> + and many others. +Maintained by: Many creative people. +Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html-bug@nongnu.org> +--><head><title>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 8. Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University</title><meta name="description" content="This is the second edition of Richard Stallman's collection of essays."><meta name="keywords" content="Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 8. Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University"><meta name="resource-type" content="document"><meta name="distribution" content="global"><meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><style type="text/css"> +<!-- +a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} +blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} +pre.display {font-family: serif} +pre.format {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} +pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} +pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} +span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} +span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} +ul.toc {list-style: none} +--> +</style><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"></head><body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> + +<a name="University"></a> +<header><div id="logo"><a href="/"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></a></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="Releasing-Free-Software-If-You-Work-at-a-University"></a> +<h1 class="chapter"> 8. Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University </h1> + +<a name="index-universities_002c-releasing-free-software-at-1"></a> +<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-release-free-software"></a> +<a name="index-developers_002c-universities"></a> +<p>In the free software movement, we believe computer users should have +the freedom to change and redistribute the software that they use. +The “free” in “free software” refers to freedom: it means +users have the freedom to run, modify and redistribute the software. +Free software contributes to human knowledge, while nonfree software +does not. Universities should therefore encourage free software for +the sake of advancing human knowledge, just as they should encourage +scientists and other scholars to publish their work. +</p> +<p>Alas, many university administrators have a grasping attitude towards +software (and towards science); they see programs as opportunities for +income, not as opportunities to contribute to human knowledge. Free +software developers have been coping with this tendency for almost 20 +years. +</p> +<p>When I started developing the +<a name="index-GNU-_0028see-also-both-software-and-GNU_0029-2"></a> +GNU operating system, in 1984, my first step was to quit my job at +<a name="index-MIT-4"></a> +MIT. +I did this specifically so that the MIT licensing office would be +unable to interfere with releasing GNU as free software. I had +planned an approach for licensing the programs in GNU that would ensure +that all modified versions must be free software as well—an approach +that developed into the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL)—and I did not want to have to beg the MIT administration to let me use it. +</p> +<p>Over the years, university affiliates have often come to the +<a name="index-FSF_002c-universities"></a> +Free +Software Foundation for advice on how to cope with administrators who +see software only as something to sell. One good method, applicable +even for specifically funded projects, is to base your work on an +existing program that was released under the +<a name="index-GPL_002c-universities-and"></a> +GNU GPL. Then you can +tell the administrators, “We’re not allowed to release the +modified version except under the GNU GPL—any other way would +be copyright infringement.” After the dollar signs fade from +their eyes, they will usually consent to releasing it as free +software. +</p> +<p>You can also ask your funding sponsor for help. When a group at +<a name="index-NYU"></a> +NYU +developed the +<a name="index-Ada-compiler_002c-GNU"></a> +<a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Ada-compiler"></a> +GNU Ada Compiler, with funding from the +<a name="index-Air-Force_002c-US-1"></a> +US Air Force, +the contract explicitly called for donating the resulting code to the +Free Software Foundation. Work out the arrangement with the sponsor +first, then politely show the university administration that it is not +open to renegotiation. They would rather have a contract to develop +free software than no contract at all, so they will most likely go +along. +</p> +<p>Whatever you do, raise the issue early—well before the +program is half finished. At this point, the university still needs +you, so you can play hardball: tell the administration you will finish +the program, make it usable, if they agree in writing to make it +free software (and agree to your choice of free software license). +Otherwise you will work on it only enough to write a paper about it, +and never make a version good enough to release. When the +administrators know their choice is to have a free software package +that brings credit to the university or nothing at all, they will +usually choose the former. +</p> +<p>Not all universities have grasping policies. The +<a name="index-University-of-Texas"></a> +University of Texas +has a policy that makes it easy to release software developed there as +free software under the GNU General Public License. +<a name="index-Univates"></a> +Univates, in +<a name="index-Brazil"></a> +Brazil, and the +<a name="index-International-Institute-of-Information-Technology"></a> +International Institute of Information Technology in +Hyderabad, +<a name="index-India"></a> +India, both have policies in favor of releasing software +under the GPL. By developing faculty support first, you may be able +to institute such a policy at your university. Present the issue as +one of principle: does the university have a mission to advance human +knowledge, or is its sole purpose to perpetuate itself? +<a name="index-GPL_002c-universities-and-1"></a> +</p> +<p>Whatever approach you use, it helps to approach the issue with determination +and based on an +ethical perspective, as we do in the free software movement. To treat +the public ethically, the software should be free—as in +freedom—for the whole public. +</p> +<a name="index-developers_002c-solid-values-for-free-software"></a> +<p>Many developers of free software profess narrowly practical reasons +for doing so: they advocate allowing others to share and change +software as an expedient for making software powerful and reliable. +If those values motivate you to develop free software, well and good, +and thank you for your contribution. But those values do not give you +a good footing to stand firm when university administrators pressure +or tempt you to make the program nonfree. +</p> +<p>For instance, they may argue that “We could make it even more +powerful and reliable with all the money we can get.” This claim +may or may not come true in the end, but it is hard to disprove in +advance. They may suggest a license to offer copies “free of +charge, for academic use only,” which would tell the general +public they don’t deserve freedom, and argue that this will obtain the +cooperation of academia, which is all (they say) you need. +</p> +<a name="index-citizen-values_002c-convenience-v_002e-2"></a> +<p>If you start from values of convenience alone, it is hard to make a +good case for rejecting these dead-end proposals, but you can do it +easily if you base your stand on ethical and political values. What +good is it to make a program powerful and reliable at the expense of +users’ freedom? Shouldn’t freedom apply outside academia as well as +within it? The answers are obvious if freedom and community are among +your goals. Free software respects the users’ freedom, while nonfree +software negates it. +</p> +<p>Nothing strengthens your resolve like knowing that the community’s +freedom depends, in one instance, on you. +<a name="index-universities_002c-releasing-free-software-at-2"></a> +<a name="index-education_002c-free-software-in-2"></a> +<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-release-free-software-1"></a> +<a name="index-developers_002c-universities-1"></a> +</p><hr size="2"></section></body></html> |