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diff --git a/misc/slackbook/html/introduction-opensource.html b/misc/slackbook/html/introduction-opensource.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..eeeda9e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/misc/slackbook/html/introduction-opensource.html @@ -0,0 +1,126 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /> +<title>Open Source and Free Software</title> +<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7" /> +<link rel="HOME" title="Slackware Linux Essentials" href="index.html" /> +<link rel="UP" title="An Introduction to Slackware Linux" href="introduction.html" /> +<link rel="PREVIOUS" title="What is Slackware?" href="introduction-slackware.html" /> +<link rel="NEXT" title="Help" href="help.html" /> +<link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +</head> +<body class="SECT1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" +alink="#0000FF"> +<div class="NAVHEADER"> +<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="introduction-slackware.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom">Chapter 1 An Introduction to Slackware +Linux</td> +<td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="help.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +</div> + +<div class="SECT1"> +<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="INTRODUCTION-OPENSOURCE" name="INTRODUCTION-OPENSOURCE">1.3 Open +Source and Free Software</a></h1> + +<p>Within the Linux community, there are two major ideological movements at work. The +Free Software movement (which we'll get into in a moment) is working toward the goal of +making all software free of intellectual property restrictions. Followers of this +movement believe these restrictions hamper technical improvement and work against the +good of the community. The Open Source movement is working toward most of the same goals, +but takes a more pragmatic approach to them. Followers of this movement prefer to base +their arguments on the economic and technical merits of making source code freely +available, rather than the moral and ethical principles that drive the Free Software +Movement.</p> + +<p>At the other end of the spectrum are groups that wish to maintain tighter controls +over their software.</p> + +<p>The Free Software movement is headed by the Free Software Foundation, a fund-raising +organization for the GNU project. Free software is more of an ideology. The oft-used +expression is “free as in speech, not free as in beer”. In essence, free +software is an attempt to guarantee certain rights for both users and developers. These +freedoms include the freedom to run the program for any reason, to study and modify the +source code, to redistribute the source, and to share any modifications you make. In +order to guarantee these freedoms, the GNU General Public License (GPL) was created. The +GPL, in brief, provides that anyone distributing a compiled program which is licensed +under the GPL must also provide source code, and is free to make modifications to the +program as long as those modifications are also made available in source code form. This +guarantees that once a program is “opened” to the community, it cannot be +“closed” except by consent of every author of every piece of code (even the +modifications) within it. Most Linux programs are licensed under the GPL.</p> + +<p>It is important to note that the GPL does not say anything about price. As odd as it +may sound, you can charge for free software. The “free” part is in the +liberties you have with the source code, not in the price you pay for the software. +(However, once someone has sold you, or even given you, a compiled program licensed under +the GPL they are obligated to provide its source code as well.)</p> + +<p>Another popular license is the BSD license. In contrast to the GPL, the BSD license +gives no requirement for the release of a program's source code. Software released under +the BSD license allows redistribution in source or binary form provided only a few +conditions are met. The author's credentials cannot be used as a sort of advertisement +for the program. It also indemnifies the author from liability for damages that may arise +from the use of the software. Much of the software included in Slackware Linux is BSD +licensed.</p> + +<p>At the forefront of the younger Open Source movement, the Open Source Initiative is an +organization that solely exists to gain support for open source software, that is, +software that has the source code available as well as the ready-to-run program. They do +not offer a specific license, but instead they support the various types of open source +licenses available.</p> + +<p>The idea behind the OSI is to get more companies behind open source by allowing them +to write their own open source licenses and have those licenses certified by the Open +Source Initiative. Many companies want to release source code, but do not want to use the +GPL. Since they cannot radically change the GPL, they are offered the opportunity to +provide their own license and have it certified by this organization.</p> + +<p>While the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative work to help each +other, they are not the same thing. The Free Software Foundation uses a specific license +and provides software under that license. The Open Source Initiative seeks support for +all open source licenses, including the one from the Free Software Foundation. The +grounds on which each argues for making source code freely available sometimes divides +the two movements, but the fact that two ideologically diverse groups are working toward +the same goal lends credence to the efforts of each.</p> +</div> + +<div class="NAVFOOTER"> +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +<table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="introduction-slackware.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html" +accesskey="H">Home</a></td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="help.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">What is Slackware?</td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="introduction.html" +accesskey="U">Up</a></td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Help</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</body> +</html> + |