Editing GNU (section)

== History ==
Development of the GNU software was initiated by [[Richard Stallman]] while he worked at [[MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]]. It was called the GNU Project, and was publicly announced on September 27, 1983, on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft [[newsgroup]]s by Stallman.<ref>{{cite newsgroup |title=new UNIX implementation |first=Richard |last=Stallman |date=September 27, 1983 |newsgroup=net.unix-wizards |message-id=771@mit-eddie.UUCP |url=https://groups.google.com/group/net.unix-wizards/msg/4dadd63a976019d7 |access-date=August 18, 2008 }}</ref> Software development began on January 5, 1984, when Stallman quit his job at the Lab so that they could not claim ownership or interfere with distributing GNU components as free software.<ref name="intervention">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jXC6H8lRjlUC |title=Inter/vention: Free Play in the Age of Electracy |first1=Jan Rune |last1=Holmevik |first2=Ian |last2=Bogost |first3=Gregory |last3=Ulmer |publisher=MIT Press |date=March 2012 |isbn=978-0-262-01705-3|pages=69–71}}</ref>

The goal was to bring a completely free software operating system into existence. Stallman wanted computer users to be free to study the source code of the software they use, share software with other people, modify the behavior of software, and publish their modified versions of the software. This philosophy was published as the [[GNU Manifesto]] in March 1985.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.math.utah.edu/ftp/pub/tex/bib/toc/dr-dobbs-1980.html#10(3):March:1985 |journal=Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools |title=The {GNU} Manifesto |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=30 |date=March 1985 |first=Richard |last=Stallman |author-link = Richard Stallman |access-date=2011-10-18}}</ref>

Richard Stallman's experience with the [[Incompatible Timesharing System]] (ITS),<ref name="intervention" /> an early operating system written in [[assembly language]] that became obsolete due to discontinuation of [[PDP-10]], the computer architecture for which ITS was written, led to a decision that a [[porting|portable]] system was necessary.<ref name="rms-zagreb-talk" />{{rp|at=40:52|}}<ref name="opensource2.0">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/opensources2.000diborich |title=Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution |publisher="O'Reilly Media, Inc." |first1=Chris |last1=DiBona |first2=Mark |last2=Stone |first3=Danese |last3=Cooper |date=October 2005 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/opensources2.000diborich/page/n79 38]–40 |isbn=9780596008024}}</ref> It was thus decided that the development would be started using [[C (programming language)|C]] and [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] as system programming languages,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://laurel.datsi.fi.upm.es/~ssoo/IG/download/timeline.html|title=Timeline of GNU/Linux and Unix|quote=Both C and Lisp will be available as system programming languages.}}</ref> and that GNU would be compatible with Unix.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53zaxy423xcC|title=Beginning Portable Shell Scripting: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Open Source)|date=November 2008|pages=177–178 |isbn=9781430210436 |last1=Seebach |first1=Peter|publisher=Apress }}</ref> At the time, Unix was already a popular [[proprietary software|proprietary]] operating system. The design of Unix was modular, so it could be reimplemented piece by piece.<ref name="opensource2.0" />

Much of the needed software had to be written from scratch, but existing compatible third-party free software components were also used such as the [[TeX]] typesetting system, the [[X Window System]], and the [[Mach (kernel)|Mach]] microkernel that forms the basis of the [[GNU Mach]] core of [[GNU Hurd]] (the official kernel of GNU).<ref name="linuxinterface">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ps2SH727eCIC|title=The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook|pages=5–6|date=October 2010 |isbn=9781593272203 |last1=Kerrisk |first1=Michael|publisher=No Starch Press }}</ref> With the exception of the aforementioned third-party components, most of GNU has been written by volunteers; some in their spare time, some paid by companies,<ref name="cygnus">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781565925823 |title=Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution |publisher=O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. |date=January 1999 |isbn=978-1-56592-582-3 }}</ref> educational institutions, and other non-profit organizations. In October 1985, Stallman set up the [[Free Software Foundation]] (FSF). In the late 1980s and 1990s, the FSF hired software developers to write the software needed for GNU.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LlCnYt2snHYC |title=The Software Industry | pages=187–196 |isbn=9783642315091 |last1=Buxmann |first1=Peter |last2=Diefenbach |first2=Heiner |last3=Hess |first3=Thomas |date=2012-09-30|publisher=Springer }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50maN7VmpusC | title=Practical UNIX and Internet Security, 3rd Edition | publisher=O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. |date=February 2003 | page=18 |isbn=9781449310127}}</ref>

As GNU gained prominence, interested businesses began contributing to development or selling GNU software and technical support. The most prominent and successful of these was [[Cygnus Solutions]],<ref name="cygnus" /> now part of [[Red Hat]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-232971.html|title=Red Hat buys software firm, shuffles CEO|author=Stephen Shankland|date=15 November 1999|publisher=CBS Interactive|work=CNET|access-date=5 March 2016}}</ref>