The Free Software Definition: Difference between revisions

'''''The Free Software Definition''''' is a policy document written by [[Richard Stallman]] and published by the [[Free Software Foundation]] (FSF). It defines [[free software]] as software that grants users the freedom to use, study, share, and modify the software. The term "free" is used in the sense of "free speech", not "free of charge".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.en |title=What is free software? |publisher=Free Software Foundation |access-date=2023-10-03}}</ref>

The earliest known publication of the definition appeared in the February 1986 edition of the now-discontinued ''GNU's Bulletin'' published by the FSF.<ref name="bull6">{{cite web |url=https://www.gnu.org/bulletins/bull1.txt |title=GNU's Bulletin, Volume 1 Number 1 |last=Stallman |first=Richard M. |date=February 1986 |publisher=Free Software Foundation |page=8 |access-date=2019-02-08}}</ref> Since 1996, the official version of the document has been maintained in the philosophy section of the [[GNU Project]] website. {{As of|2025|03}}, the definition had seen 27 major revisions since it was originally published online and it had been translated into 65 languages.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.en |title=The Free Software Definition |publisher=Free Software Foundation |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.en#translations |title=The Free Software Definition – Translations |publisher=Free Software Foundation |access-date=2023-10-03}}</ref> The FSF also publishes a [[Comparison of free and open-source software licenses|list of licenses]] that meet this definition.

A fourth freedom was later introduced to explicitly affirm the user's right to run the program. Because it was seen as more fundamental than the others, it was placed first. Since the existing freedoms were numbered one through three, this new one was designated "freedom zero".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.en#f1|title=What is free software? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (Footnote)|author=Free Software Foundation|quote="The reason they are numbered 0, 1, 2 and 3 is historical. Around 1990 there were three freedoms, numbered 1, 2 and 3. Then we realized that the freedom to run the program needed to be mentioned explicitly. It was clearly more basic than the other three, so it properly should precede them. Rather than renumber the others, we made it freedom 0."|date=2018-07-21}}</ref> Such [[zero-based numbering]], where counting begins at zero, is also a common convention in computer programming.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ma.tt/2014/01/four-freedoms/|title=The Four Freedoms|date=23 January 2014|quote=I [Matt Mullenweg] originally thought Stallman started counting with zero instead of one because he's a geek. He is, but that wasn't the reason. Freedoms one, two, and three came first, but later he wanted to add something to supersede all of them. So: freedom zero. The geekness is a happy accident.}}</ref>