In 1984, this new, restrictive UNIX gave rise to
an organization that eventually led a path to Linux: the Free Software Foundation.
NOTE
12
Linux First Steps Part I
To a GNU Free-Flowing (not) UNIX
In 1984, Richard M. Stallman started the GNU Project (www.gnu.org), recursively named by the
phrase GNU??™s Not UNIX. As a project of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), GNU was intended
to become a recoding of the entire UNIX operating system that could be freely distributed. The GNU
Project page (www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html) tells the story of how the project came
about in Stallman??™s own words.
While rewriting millions of lines of code might seem daunting for one or two people, spreading
the effort across dozens or even hundreds of programmers made the project possible. It turned out
that not only could the same results be gained by all new code, but in some cases, that code was
better than the original UNIX versions. Because everyone could see the code being produced for
the project, poorly written code could be corrected quickly or replaced over time.
If you are familiar with UNIX, try searching the more than 3,400 GNU software packages for your
favorite UNIX command from the Free Software Directory (http://directory.fsf.org/GNU).
Chances are you will find it there, along with many, many other software projects available as add-ons.
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