The Takeda Award 2001

3.GNU project

Summary
     In 1984, Richard M. Stallman resigned from MIT and started to develop a UNIX compatible operating system as free software. This was the start of the GNU project, whose object was to make and distribute the free software. In 1985, he made available on the Internet a free editor program, and founded the FSF (Free Software Foundation(6)) as the association for accelerating the GNU project.
     The GNU project is the forerunner of the freely open method for computer software development. The free software concept proposed by Stallman includes the freedom to access the source code, to modify the program and to redistribute copies. This freedom and open principle made it possible to gather the wisdom from many programmers around the world, resulting in the development of system software with excellent functionality and high stability. GPL (General Public License)(7) is the refined license document summarizing this principle. Based on this principle, Stallman planned to develop a UNIX compatible software system. As the result, GNU software, such as a high performance editor (Emacs), a compiler (GCC) and a graphical user interface (GNU desktop: GNOME), has been produced. An operating system kernel was under development, but before it was completed, Linux became available. By combining Linux and GNU software, a complete UNIX compatible operating system is available as free software(8).
     The concept of free software and the GPL provides the basis for the development of other free software or open software. GNU software developed by the GNU project gained a high reputation for free software because of its excellent functionality and high stability.

Results of GNU project (GNU software and GNU GPL)
     The number of GNU software packages under the umbrella of the GNU project is up to 800. More than 14 GNU sub-projects are registered and progressing now.
     The meaning of "free" in GNU free software(9) is not that the price is free but that the software has the freedom as follows. To be able to obtain a source code is the premise of being free.

	a)	You have the freedom to run the program, for any purpose. (The 0th freedom)
	b)	You have the freedom to modify the program to suit your needs. (The 1st freedom)
	c)	You have the freedom to redistribute copies, either gratis or for a fee. (The 2nd freedom)
	d)	You have the freedom to distribute modified versions of the program. (The 3rd freedom)

The concept of "copyleft," the coined word by Stallman, means that modified versions must also be free at re-distribution without any restrictions. The above-listed conditions are the actual conditions for copyleft(10).

Reliability of free software
According to the study of standard UNIX utility programs in 1990 and 1995, the failure rate of the GNU utilities was only 6% or 9%(11). By comparison, the failure rate of utilities on the commercial versions ranged from 15% to 40%. The report of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee in September 2000(12) recognized the high quality of free software or open source software. The reason for their high quality was explained as follows(13).

	1)	In the case of the free software, all community members work cooperatively. Users not only report bugs but also propose the revisions and work together to correct bugs, communicating by e-mail, which results in an efficient revision.
	2)	Because the source code is open to everyone, programmers have a high motivation to raise the reliability and to debug source code thoroughly.