page two of the gnu manifesto, written by richard stallman in nineteen.eighty.fi
ve for the new gnu project ... why gnu will be compatible with unix ... unix is 
not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. the essential features of unix seem 
to be good ones, and i think i can fill in what unix lacks without spoiling them
. and a system compatible with unix would be convenient for many other people to
 adopt. ... how gnu will be available ... gnu is not in the public domain. every
one will be permitted to modify and redistribute gnu, but no distributor will be
 allowed to restrict its further redistribution. that is to say, proprietary mod
ifications will not be allowed. i want to make sure that all versions of gnu rem
ain free. ... why many other programmers want to help ... i have found many othe
r programmers who are excited about gnu and want to help.many programmers are un
happy about the commercialization of system software. it may enable them to make
 more money, but it requires them to feel in conflict with other programmers in 
general rather than feel as comrades. the fundamental act of friendship among pr
ogrammers is the sharing of programs marketing arrangements now typically used e
ssentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends. the purchaser of softw
are must choose between friendship and obeying the law. naturally, many decide t
hat friendship is more important. but those who believe in law often do not feel
 at ease with either choice. they become cynical and think that programming is j
ust a way of making money.by working on and using gnu rather than proprietary pr
ograms, we can be hospitable to everyone and obey the law. in addition, gnu serv
es as an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in sharing. 
this can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if we use software tha
t is not free. for about half the programmers i talk to, this is an important ha
ppiness that money cannot replace. .... how you can contribute ... i am asking c
omputer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. im asking individuals
 for donations of programs and work.one consequence you can expect if you donate
 machines is that gnu will run on them at an early date. the machines should be 
complete, ready to use systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not 
in need of sophisticated cooling or power.i have found very many programmers eag
er to contribute parttime work for gnu. for most projects, such parttime distrib
uted 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. a complete unix system contains hundreds of utility programs, each of
 which is documented separately. most interface specifications are fixed by unix
 compatibility. if each contributor can write a compatible replacement for a sin
gle unix utility, and make it work properly in place of the original on a unix s
ystem, then these utilities will work right when put together. even allowing for
 murphy to create a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will be
 a feasible task. ... the section to be continued on page three of the manifesto