77 lines
4.0 KiB
TeX
77 lines
4.0 KiB
TeX
%% Copyright (c) 2002, 2010 Sam Williams
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%% Copyright (c) 2010 Richard M. Stallman
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%% Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
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%% document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
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%% Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software
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%% Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and
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%% no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the
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%% file called ``gfdl.tex''.
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\chapter[Foreword by Richard M. Stallman]{Foreword\\by Richard M. Stallman}
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I have aimed to make this edition combine the advantages of my
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knowledge and Williams' interviews and outside viewpoint. The reader
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can judge to what extent I have achieved this.
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I read the published text of the English edition for the first time in
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2009 when I was asked to assist in making a French translation of \textit{Free
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as in Freedom}. It called for more than small changes.
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Many facts needed correction, but deeper changes were also needed.
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Williams, a non-programmer, blurred fundamental technical and legal
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distinctions, such as that between modifying an existing program's
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code, on the one hand, and implementing some of its ideas in a new
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program, on the other. Thus, the first edition said that both Gosmacs
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and GNU Emacs were developed by modifying the original PDP-10 Emacs,
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which in fact neither one was. Likewise, it mistakenly
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described Linux as a ``version of Minix.'' SCO later made the same
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false claim in its infamous lawsuit against IBM, and both Torvalds and
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Tanenbaum rebutted it.
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The first edition overdramatized many events by projecting spurious
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emotions into them. For instance, it said that I ``all but shunned''
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Linux in 1992, and then made a ``a dramatic about-face'' by deciding in
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1993 to sponsor Debian GNU/Linux. Both my interest in 1993 and my
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lack of interest in 1992 were pragmatic means to pursue the same end:
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to complete the GNU system. The launch of the GNU Hurd kernel in 1990
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was also a pragmatic move directed at that same end.
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For all these reasons, many statements in the original edition were
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mistaken or incoherent. It was necessary to correct them, but not
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straightforward to do so with integrity short of a total rewrite,
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which was undesirable for other reasons. Using explicit notes for the
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corrections was suggested, but in most chapters the amount of change
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made explicit notes prohibitive. Some errors were too pervasive or
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too ingrained to be corrected by notes. Inline or footnotes for the
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rest would have overwhelmed the text in some places and made the text
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hard to read; footnotes would have been skipped by readers tired of
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looking down for them. I have therefore made corrections directly in
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the text.
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However, I have not tried to check all the facts and quotations that
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are outside my knowledge; most of those I have simply carried forward
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on Williams' authority.
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Williams' version contained many quotations that are critical of me. I
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have preserved all these, adding rebuttals when appropriate. I have
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not deleted any quotation, except in \autoref{chapter:open source} where I have deleted
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some that were about open source and did not pertain to my life or
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work. Likewise I have preserved (and sometimes commented on) most of
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Williams' own interpretations that criticized me, when they did not
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represent misunderstanding of facts or technology, but I have freely
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corrected inaccurate assertions about my work and my thoughts and
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feelings. I have preserved his personal impressions when presented as
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such, and ``I'' in the text of this edition always refers to Williams
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except in notes labeled ``RMS:''.
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In this edition, the complete system that combines GNU and Linux is
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always ``GNU/Linux,'' and ``Linux'' by itself always refers to Torvalds'
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kernel, except in quotations where the other usage is marked with
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``[\textit{sic}]''. See \url{http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html} for more
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explanation of why it is erroneous and unfair to call the whole system
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``Linux.''
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I would like to thank John Sullivan for his many useful criticisms and
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suggestions.
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