GNU
Overview
The GNU Project, initiated by Richard Matthew Stallman in 1983, is a free software, mass collaboration project. The primary goal of the GNU Project was to develop a complete Unix-compatible software system that is free software. The name "GNU" is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!".
History
The inception of the GNU Project is closely tied to the development of the Unix operating system. Unix was initially a proprietary software operating system. However, the system's popularity and widespread adoption led to the creation of a variety of derivative systems and components, many of which were also proprietary software.
In the early 1980s, Richard Stallman, then working at the MIT AI Lab, had become frustrated with the shift towards proprietary software. He observed that the trend to sell software under restrictive licenses was a departure from the norm he had experienced, where software was shared freely. Stallman saw the proprietary software model as a social problem, and started the GNU Project in response.
Philosophy
The philosophy of the GNU Project is that software users should have the freedom to share and change software. This is a deliberate contrast to the proprietary software model, which restricts users in various ways. The GNU Project refers to these freedoms as the four essential freedoms, and they are central to its mission.
Components
The GNU Project includes a number of components, which are primarily a collection of free software, which are released under the auspices of the project. These include the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the GNU C Library (glibc), and the GNU Core Utilities (coreutils), which are the basic tools expected in a Unix-like operating system.
Impact
The GNU Project has had a significant impact on the world of software development. It has led to the creation of a number of free software licenses, most notably the GNU General Public License (GPL). The GPL is a copyleft license, which means that derived works can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in contrast to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD licenses are the standard example.