gnu1987/gnu-bulletin/begin.txt

Message-Id: <9204131416.AA28109@cs.kun.nl>
To: usenet.hist@weber.ucsd.edu
Cc: lwj@cs.kun.nl
From: Luc Rooijakkers <lwj@cs.kun.nl>
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).

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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
> 
> 

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