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www/bulletins bull4.html
|
From: |
Joakim Olsson |
|
Subject: |
www/bulletins bull4.html |
|
Date: |
Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:43:05 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Joakim Olsson <jocke> 08/08/03 20:43:05
Modified files:
bulletins : bull4.html
Log message:
Fixed invalid HTML and upgraded to XHTML.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/bulletins/bull4.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.3&r2=1.4
Patches:
Index: bull4.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/bulletins/bull4.html,v
retrieving revision 1.3
retrieving revision 1.4
diff -u -b -r1.3 -r1.4
--- bull4.html 7 Feb 2007 02:34:52 -0000 1.3
+++ bull4.html 3 Aug 2008 20:42:59 -0000 1.4
@@ -1,1240 +1,993 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
-<HTML>
-<HEAD>
-<TITLE>GNU's Bulletin, vol. 1 no. 4 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
(FSF)</TITLE>
-<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:address@hidden";>
-</HEAD>
-<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#1F00FF" ALINK="#FF0000"
VLINK="#9900DD">
-<H1>GNU's Bulletin, vol. 1 no. 4</H1>
-
-<!-- These quick navigation menu bar lines can't be longer then about -->
-<!-- 72 characters or lynx will break then poorly. -->
-<!-- If we add more then 2 lines, they will become too cluttered to be -->
-<!-- quickly and easily understood. -->
-<!-- Obviously, we list ONLY the most useful/important URLs here. -->
-
-<!-- Some major categories should have this menu at the top -->
-<!-- <CENTER> -->
-<!-- <A HREF="/index.html" -->
-<!-- NAME = "index">Home</A>| -->
-<!-- <A HREF="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Philosophy</a>| -->
-<!-- <A HREF="/order/order.html">Order</A>| -->
-<!-- <A HREF="/order/ftp.html">Download</A>| -->
-<!-- <A HREF="/software/software.html">Software</A>| -->
-<!-- <A HREF="/doc/doc.html">Documentation</a> -->
-<!-- </CENTER> -->
-
-<A HREF="/graphics/gnu-head-sm.jpg"><IMG SRC="/graphics/gnu-head-sm.jpg"
- ALT=" [image of the Head of a GNU] "
- WIDTH="129" HEIGHT="122"></A>
-<P>
-<P><HR><P>
-<H1>Table of Contents</H1>
-<UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC1" HREF="bull4.html#SEC1">GNU's Bulletin <tt>
</tt> February, 1988</A>
-<UL>
-<UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC2" HREF="bull4.html#SEC2">Contents</A>
-</UL>
-</UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC3" HREF="bull4.html#SEC3">GNU's Who</A>
-<UL>
-<UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC4" HREF="bull4.html#SEC4">GNU's Bulletin</A>
-</UL>
-</UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC5" HREF="bull4.html#SEC5">What Is the Free Software
Foundation?</A>
-<UL>
-<UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC6" HREF="bull4.html#SEC6">Why a Unix-like System?</A>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC7" HREF="bull4.html#SEC7">Our First Large Donation.</A>
-</UL>
-</UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC8" HREF="bull4.html#SEC8">GNUs Flashes, February 1988</A>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC9" HREF="bull4.html#SEC9">GNU C++</A>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC10" HREF="bull4.html#SEC10">GNU Software Available Now</A>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC11" HREF="bull4.html#SEC11">The GDB Song</A>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC12" HREF="bull4.html#SEC12">Why Was Copyright Invented?</A>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC13" HREF="bull4.html#SEC13">When Programs Become Available</A>
-<UL>
-<UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC14" HREF="bull4.html#SEC14">GNU Wish List</A>
-</UL>
-</UL>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC15" HREF="bull4.html#SEC15">How To Get GNU Software</A>
-<LI><A NAME="TOC16" HREF="bull4.html#SEC16">Thank GNUs</A>
-</UL>
-<P><HR><P>
-<P>
-<HR>
-
-
-
-<P>
-GNU's Bulletin is the sporadically published newsletter of the <BR>
-Free Software Foundation, bringing you news about the GNU project.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-<B>Please note:</B> we have moved to a new address: <BR>
-Free Software Foundation, <tt> </tt> Telphone: (617) 876-3296
<BR>
-675 Massachusetts Avenue, <tt> </tt> Electronic mail:
address@hidden <BR>
-Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
-
-</P>
-<P>
-<pre>
+<!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>
-
-
-</pre>
-<HR>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-
-<P>
-<pre>
+ <title>GNU's Bulletin, vol. 1 no. 4 - GNU Project - Free Software
+ Foundation (FSF)</title>
+ <link rev="made" href="mailto:address@hidden"; />
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
+ "text/html; charset=utf-8" />
+</head>
+
+<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#1F00FF" alink=
+"#FF0000" vlink="#9900DD">
+ <h1>GNU's Bulletin, vol. 1 no. 4</h1>
+ <!-- These quick navigation menu bar lines can't be longer then about -->
+ <!-- 72 characters or lynx will break then poorly. -->
+ <!-- If we add more then 2 lines, they will become too cluttered to be -->
+ <!-- quickly and easily understood. -->
+ <!-- Obviously, we list ONLY the most useful/important URLs here. -->
+ <!-- Some major categories should have this menu at the top -->
+ <!-- <CENTER> -->
+ <!-- <A HREF="/index.html" -->
+ <!-- NAME = "index">Home</A>| -->
+ <!-- <A HREF="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Philosophy</a>| -->
+ <!-- <A HREF="/order/order.html">Order</A>| -->
+ <!-- <A HREF="/order/ftp.html">Download</A>| -->
+ <!-- <A HREF="/software/software.html">Software</A>| -->
+ <!-- <A HREF="/doc/doc.html">Documentation</a> -->
+ <!-- </CENTER> -->
+ <a href="/graphics/gnu-head-sm.jpg"><img src=
+ "/graphics/gnu-head-sm.jpg" alt=" [image of the Head of a GNU] "
+ width="129" height="122" /></a>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h1>Table of Contents</h1>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <a name="TOC1" href="bull4.html#SEC1" id="TOC1">GNU's
+ Bulletin <tt> </tt> February, 1988</a>
+
+ <div style="margin-left: 2em">
+ <ul>
+ <li><a name="TOC2" href="bull4.html#SEC2" id=
+ "TOC2">Contents</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a name="TOC3" href="bull4.html#SEC3" id="TOC3">GNU's Who</a>
+
+ <div style="margin-left: 2em">
+ <ul>
+ <li><a name="TOC4" href="bull4.html#SEC4" id="TOC4">GNU's
+ Bulletin</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a name="TOC5" href="bull4.html#SEC5" id="TOC5">What Is the
+ Free Software Foundation?</a>
+
+ <div style="margin-left: 2em">
+ <ul>
+ <li><a name="TOC6" href="bull4.html#SEC6" id="TOC6">Why a
+ Unix-like System?</a></li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC7" href="bull4.html#SEC7" id="TOC7">Our
+ First Large Donation.</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC8" href="bull4.html#SEC8" id="TOC8">GNUs
+ Flashes, February 1988</a></li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC9" href="bull4.html#SEC9" id="TOC9">GNU
+ C++</a></li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC10" href="bull4.html#SEC10" id="TOC10">GNU
+ Software Available Now</a></li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC11" href="bull4.html#SEC11" id="TOC11">The GDB
+ Song</a></li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC12" href="bull4.html#SEC12" id="TOC12">Why Was
+ Copyright Invented?</a></li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a name="TOC13" href="bull4.html#SEC13" id="TOC13">When
+ Programs Become Available</a>
+
+ <div style="margin-left: 2em">
+ <ul>
+ <li><a name="TOC14" href="bull4.html#SEC14" id=
+ "TOC14">GNU Wish List</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC15" href="bull4.html#SEC15" id="TOC15">How To
+ Get GNU Software</a></li>
+
+ <li><a name="TOC16" href="bull4.html#SEC16" id="TOC16">Thank
+ GNUs</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ <hr />
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>GNU's Bulletin is the sporadically published newsletter of
+ the<br />
+ Free Software Foundation, bringing you news about the GNU
+ project.</p>
+
+ <p><b>Please note:</b> we have moved to a new address:<br />
+ Free Software Foundation, <tt> </tt> Telphone: (617)
+ 876-3296<br />
+ 675 Massachusetts Avenue, <tt> </tt> Electronic mail:
+ address@hidden<br />
+ Cambridge, MA 02139 USA</p>
+ <pre>
</pre>
-
-</P>
-
-
-<H3><A NAME="SEC2" HREF="bull4.html#TOC2">Contents</A></H3>
-
-<PRE>
-Gnu's Who <tt> </tt> 2
-What Is the Free Software Foundation? <tt> </tt> 3
-Gnu's Flashes <tt> </tt> 5
-GNU C<CODE>++</CODE> <tt> </tt> 9
-GNU Software Available Now <tt> </tt> 11
-The GDB Song <tt> </tt> 13
-Why Was Copyright Invented? <tt> </tt> 14
-When Programs Become Available <tt> </tt> 15
-GNU Wish List <tt> </tt> 16
-How To Get GNU Software <tt> </tt> 17
-Thank GNUs <tt> </tt> 18
-GNU Order Form <tt> </tt> 19
-</PRE>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC3" HREF="bull4.html#TOC3">GNU's Who</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-The GNU Team has grown larger in the last few months: <B>Brian Fox</B> and
-<B>Opus Goldstein</B> have joined <B>Jay Fenlason</B> as the only employees of
-the Foundation. Most recently, Brian created a stand-alone texinfo
-formatter and browser and is now working on <CODE>sh</CODE>, the shell. Stacey
-is running the mail room, distributing tapes and manuals and generally
-doing every thing that programmers do not do (e.g. interfacing with the
-"real" world). <B>Jay Fenlason</B> has just finished the profiler and is
-now working on miscellaneous utilities.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-<B>Richard Stallman</B> continues to do countless tasks, including refining
-the C compiler, GDB, GNU Emacs, etc.; he has also written a termcap manual
-and several other documents. <B>Robert J. Chassell</B> publishes our
-manuals, and serves as the Foundation's treasurer. <B>Chris Hofstader</B> has
-become our fund raiser. (Don't be surprised if he asks you for money.)
-Finally, <B>Len Tower</B> continues to handle electronic administrivia
-(mailing lists, information requests, and system mothering).
-
-</P>
-<P>
-
-<P>
-<pre>
+ <hr />
+ <pre>
</pre>
-<HR>
-<pre>
-
-
-
+ <h3><a name="SEC2" href="bull4.html#TOC2" id=
+ "SEC2">Contents</a></h3>
+ <pre>
+Gnu's Who <tt> </tt> 2
+What Is the Free Software Foundation? <tt> </tt> 3
+Gnu's Flashes <tt> </tt> 5
+GNU C<code>++</code> <tt> </tt> 9
+GNU Software Available Now <tt> </tt> 11
+The GDB Song <tt> </tt> 13
+Why Was Copyright Invented? <tt> </tt> 14
+When Programs Become Available <tt> </tt> 15
+GNU Wish List <tt> </tt> 16
+How To Get GNU Software <tt> </tt> 17
+Thank GNUs <tt> </tt> 18
+GNU Order Form <tt> </tt> 19
</pre>
-</P>
-
-
-
-<H3><A NAME="SEC4" HREF="bull4.html#TOC4">GNU's Bulletin</A></H3>
-
-<P>
-Copyright (C) 1988 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Editors: Stacey (Opus) Goldstein, Robert J. Chassell, Leonard Tower Jr.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Writers: Richard M. Stallman, Opus Goldstein, Michael Tiemann
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Illustrations: Etienne Suvasa, Jean-Marie Diaz
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Order form: Karl Berry, Kathryn Hargreaves
-
-</P>
-
-<BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>
-Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim
-copies of this document as received, in any medium, provided that
-the copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, and
-that the distributor grants the recipient permission for further
-redistribution as permitted by this notice.
-</BLOCKQUOTE>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC5" HREF="bull4.html#TOC5">What Is the Free Software
Foundation?</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-by Richard M. Stallman
-<P>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-The Free Software Foundation is dedicated to eliminating restrictions
-on copying, redistribution, understanding and modification of software.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-The word "free" in our name does not refer to price; it refers to
-freedom. First, the freedom to copy a program and redistribute it to
-your neighbors, so that they can use it as well as you. Second, the
-freedom to change a program, so that you can control it instead of it
-controlling you; for this, the source code must be made available to
-you.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-The Foundation works to give you these freedoms by developing free
-compatible replacements for proprietary software. Specifically, we
-are putting together a complete, integrated software system "GNU" that
-is upward-compatible with Unix. When it is released, everyone will be
-permitted to copy it and distribute it to others; in addition, it will
-be distributed with source code, so you will be able to learn about
-operating systems by reading it, to port it to your own machine, to
-improve it, and to exchange the changes with others.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-There are already organizations that distribute free CPM and MSDOS
-software. The Free Software Foundation is doing something different.
-
-</P>
-
-<OL>
-<LI>
-
-The other organizations exist primarily for distribution; they
-distribute whatever happens to be available. We hope to provide a
-complete integrated free system that will eliminate the need for any
-proprietary software.
-
-<LI>
-
-One consequence is that we are now interested only in software that fits
-well into the context of the GNU system. Distributing free MSDOS or
-Macintosh software is a useful activity, but it is not our goal. For
-information on how to get the software we do distribute, please see the
-article later in this issue, `How To Get GNU Software'.
-
-<LI>
-
-Another consequence is that we will actively attempt to improve and extend
-the software we distribute, as fast as our manpower permits. For this
-reason, we will always be seeking donations of money, computer equipment or
-time, labor, documentation and source code to improve the GNU system.
-
-<LI>
-
-In fact, our primary purpose is this software development effort;
-distribution is just an adjunct which also brings in some money. We
-think that the users will do most of the distribution on their own,
-without needing or wanting our help.
-</OL>
-
-
-
-<H3><A NAME="SEC6" HREF="bull4.html#TOC6">Why a Unix-like System?</A></H3>
-
-<P>
-It is necessary to be compatible with some widely used system to give
-our system an immediate base of trained users who could switch to it
-easily and an immediate base of application software that can run on
-it. (Eventually we will provide free replacements for proprietary
-application software as well, but that is some years in the future.)
-
-</P>
-<P>
-We chose Unix because it is a fairly clean design which is already
-known to be portable, yet whose popularity is still rising. The
-disadvantages of Unix seem to be things we can fix without removing
-what is good in Unix.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Why not imitate MSDOS or CP/M? They are more widely used, true, but
-they are also very weak systems, designed for tiny machines. Unix is
-much more powerful and interesting. When a system takes years to
-implement, it is important to write it for the machines that will
-become available in the future; not to let it be limited by the
-capabilities of the machines that are in widest use at the moment but
-will be obsolete when the new system is finished.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Why not aim for a new, more advanced system, such as a Lisp Machine?
-Mainly because that is still more of a research effort; there is a
-sizeable chance that the wrong choices will be made and the system
-will turn out not very good. In addition, such systems are often tied
-to special hardware. Being tied to one manufacturer's machine would
-make it hard to remain independent of that manufacturer and get broad
-community support.
-
-</P>
+ <h1><a name="SEC3" href="bull4.html#TOC3" id="SEC3">GNU's
+ Who</a></h1>
+ <p>The GNU Team has grown larger in the last few months: <b>Brian
+ Fox</b> and <b>Opus Goldstein</b> have joined <b>Jay Fenlason</b>
+ as the only employees of the Foundation. Most recently, Brian
+ created a stand-alone texinfo formatter and browser and is now
+ working on <code>sh</code>, the shell. Stacey is running the mail
+ room, distributing tapes and manuals and generally doing every
+ thing that programmers do not do (e.g. interfacing with the
+ "real" world). <b>Jay Fenlason</b> has just finished the profiler
+ and is now working on miscellaneous utilities.</p>
+
+ <p><b>Richard Stallman</b> continues to do countless tasks,
+ including refining the C compiler, GDB, GNU Emacs, etc.; he has
+ also written a termcap manual and several other documents.
+ <b>Robert J. Chassell</b> publishes our manuals, and serves as
+ the Foundation's treasurer. <b>Chris Hofstader</b> has become our
+ fund raiser. (Don't be surprised if he asks you for money.)
+ Finally, <b>Len Tower</b> continues to handle electronic
+ administrivia (mailing lists, information requests, and system
+ mothering).</p>
+ <pre>
-<H3><A NAME="SEC7" HREF="bull4.html#TOC7">Our First Large Donation.</A></H3>
-<P>
-Software Research Associates, a Japanese software house, has donated
-$10,000 to the GNU project. In addition they plan to send us a
-Sun-like SONY workstation and lend us a staff programmer for 6 months.
-</P>
-<P>
-This represents the influence of Kouichi Kishida, who organized the
-Japanese Sigma project (to stimulate Unix competence in Japan), only
-to conclude later that the project had gone astray and that a "grass
-roots movement" was needed instead. We hope to be this movement.
-
-</P>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC8" HREF="bull4.html#TOC8">GNUs Flashes, February 1988</A></H1>
-<P>
-by Richard M. Stallman
-<P>
-
-</P>
-
-<UL>
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Some parts of BSD are becoming free.</B>
-
-After years of urging from us and others, the people who maintain
-Berkeley Unix have decided to release various parts of it (those which
-don't contain AT&T code) separately as free software. This includes
-substantial programs which we hope to use in GNU, such as TCP/IP
-support and the C-shell.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Berkeley and GNU project cooperating.</B>
-
-The next release of Berkeley Unix may contain Make, AWK and SH from the
-GNU project instead of those from Unix.
-
-The reason is that they would like to have improvements in these programs
-like those in system V.3; but they find the new restrictions on V.3
-licenses unpalatable. Both we and they hope they never get a V.3 license.
-We may help them avoid it by providing alternative software.
-
-GNU Make already supports the system V features; a volunteer is now writing
-the extensions for Gawk.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Shell disappointment.</B>
-
-For a year and a half, the GNU shell was "just about done". The author
-made repeated promises to deliver what he had done, and never kept them.
-
-Finally I could no longer believe he would ever deliver anything.
-
-So Foundation staff member <B>Brian Fox</B> is now implementing an imitation
-of the Bourne shell. Once it is done, we will extend it with the
-features of the Korn shell, thus coming to Berkeley's aid.
-
-<LI><B>We may use Sprite, or the Sprite file system with MACH.</B>
-
-We still hope to use the MACH kernel from CMU when it becomes free,
-after the parts of Berkeley Unix which currently form part of it have been
-replaced as planned.
+</pre>
+ <hr />
+ <pre>
-The MACH people say that in a month or two certain new features
-(call-outs from the kernel to user code) should be ready that will
-enable us to start working on replacing some of these parts with new
-code.
-One thing we are considering is adapting the file system from
-Berkeley's Sprite kernel for use in MACH. This file system was
-designed from the beginning to work in a distributed manner. The file
-system is the largest part of MACH that needs replacement, now that
-the Berkeley TCP/IP code, also used in MACH, has been declared free.
-<LI>
-<B>GNU Make is done.</B>
+</pre>
-The GNU version of Make is now ready, and will be distributed soon.
-It features conditionals, pattern rules, and indirect search for
-implicit rules, and built-in functions for text processing.
+ <h3><a name="SEC4" href="bull4.html#TOC4" id="SEC4">GNU's
+ Bulletin</a></h3>
-Here is how a GNU Makefile can say that the file `foo' is linked
-from the object files of all C source files in the current directory:
+ <p>Copyright (C) 1988 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
+ <p>Editors: Stacey (Opus) Goldstein, Robert J. Chassell, Leonard
+ Tower Jr.</p>
-<PRE>
+ <p>Writers: Richard M. Stallman, Opus Goldstein, Michael
+ Tiemann</p>
+
+ <p>Illustrations: Etienne Suvasa, Jean-Marie Diaz</p>
+
+ <p>Order form: Karl Berry, Kathryn Hargreaves</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute
+ verbatim copies of this document as received, in any medium,
+ provided that the copyright notice and permission notice are
+ preserved, and that the distributor grants the recipient
+ permission for further redistribution as permitted by this
+ notice.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h1><a name="SEC5" href="bull4.html#TOC5" id="SEC5">What Is the
+ Free Software Foundation?</a></h1>
+
+ <p>by Richard M. Stallman</p>
+
+ <p>The Free Software Foundation is dedicated to eliminating
+ restrictions on copying, redistribution, understanding and
+ modification of software.</p>
+
+ <p>The word "free" in our name does not refer to price; it refers
+ to freedom. First, the freedom to copy a program and redistribute
+ it to your neighbors, so that they can use it as well as you.
+ Second, the freedom to change a program, so that you can control
+ it instead of it controlling you; for this, the source code must
+ be made available to you.</p>
+
+ <p>The Foundation works to give you these freedoms by developing
+ free compatible replacements for proprietary software.
+ Specifically, we are putting together a complete, integrated
+ software system "GNU" that is upward-compatible with Unix. When
+ it is released, everyone will be permitted to copy it and
+ distribute it to others; in addition, it will be distributed with
+ source code, so you will be able to learn about operating systems
+ by reading it, to port it to your own machine, to improve it, and
+ to exchange the changes with others.</p>
+
+ <p>There are already organizations that distribute free CPM and
+ MSDOS software. The Free Software Foundation is doing something
+ different.</p>
+
+ <ol>
+ <li>The other organizations exist primarily for distribution;
+ they distribute whatever happens to be available. We hope to
+ provide a complete integrated free system that will eliminate
+ the need for any proprietary software.</li>
+
+ <li>One consequence is that we are now interested only in
+ software that fits well into the context of the GNU system.
+ Distributing free MSDOS or Macintosh software is a useful
+ activity, but it is not our goal. For information on how to get
+ the software we do distribute, please see the article later in
+ this issue, `How To Get GNU Software'.</li>
+
+ <li>Another consequence is that we will actively attempt to
+ improve and extend the software we distribute, as fast as our
+ manpower permits. For this reason, we will always be seeking
+ donations of money, computer equipment or time, labor,
+ documentation and source code to improve the GNU system.</li>
+
+ <li>In fact, our primary purpose is this software development
+ effort; distribution is just an adjunct which also brings in
+ some money. We think that the users will do most of the
+ distribution on their own, without needing or wanting our
+ help.</li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <h3><a name="SEC6" href="bull4.html#TOC6" id="SEC6">Why a
+ Unix-like System?</a></h3>
+
+ <p>It is necessary to be compatible with some widely used system
+ to give our system an immediate base of trained users who could
+ switch to it easily and an immediate base of application software
+ that can run on it. (Eventually we will provide free replacements
+ for proprietary application software as well, but that is some
+ years in the future.)</p>
+
+ <p>We chose Unix because it is a fairly clean design which is
+ already known to be portable, yet whose popularity is still
+ rising. The disadvantages of Unix seem to be things we can fix
+ without removing what is good in Unix.</p>
+
+ <p>Why not imitate MSDOS or CP/M? They are more widely used,
+ true, but they are also very weak systems, designed for tiny
+ machines. Unix is much more powerful and interesting. When a
+ system takes years to implement, it is important to write it for
+ the machines that will become available in the future; not to let
+ it be limited by the capabilities of the machines that are in
+ widest use at the moment but will be obsolete when the new system
+ is finished.</p>
+
+ <p>Why not aim for a new, more advanced system, such as a Lisp
+ Machine? Mainly because that is still more of a research effort;
+ there is a sizeable chance that the wrong choices will be made
+ and the system will turn out not very good. In addition, such
+ systems are often tied to special hardware. Being tied to one
+ manufacturer's machine would make it hard to remain independent
+ of that manufacturer and get broad community support.</p>
+
+ <h3><a name="SEC7" href="bull4.html#TOC7" id="SEC7">Our First
+ Large Donation.</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Software Research Associates, a Japanese software house, has
+ donated $10,000 to the GNU project. In addition they plan to send
+ us a Sun-like SONY workstation and lend us a staff programmer for
+ 6 months.</p>
+
+ <p>This represents the influence of Kouichi Kishida, who
+ organized the Japanese Sigma project (to stimulate Unix
+ competence in Japan), only to conclude later that the project had
+ gone astray and that a "grass roots movement" was needed instead.
+ We hope to be this movement.</p>
+
+ <h1><a name="SEC8" href="bull4.html#TOC8" id="SEC8">GNUs Flashes,
+ February 1988</a></h1>
+
+ <p>by Richard M. Stallman</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><b>Some parts of BSD are becoming free.</b> After years of
+ urging from us and others, the people who maintain Berkeley
+ Unix have decided to release various parts of it (those which
+ don't contain AT&T code) separately as free software. This
+ includes substantial programs which we hope to use in GNU, such
+ as TCP/IP support and the C-shell.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Berkeley and GNU project cooperating.</b> The next
+ release of Berkeley Unix may contain Make, AWK and SH from the
+ GNU project instead of those from Unix. The reason is that they
+ would like to have improvements in these programs like those in
+ system V.3; but they find the new restrictions on V.3 licenses
+ unpalatable. Both we and they hope they never get a V.3
+ license. We may help them avoid it by providing alternative
+ software. GNU Make already supports the system V features; a
+ volunteer is now writing the extensions for Gawk.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Shell disappointment.</b> For a year and a half, the GNU
+ shell was "just about done". The author made repeated promises
+ to deliver what he had done, and never kept them. Finally I
+ could no longer believe he would ever deliver anything. So
+ Foundation staff member <b>Brian Fox</b> is now implementing an
+ imitation of the Bourne shell. Once it is done, we will extend
+ it with the features of the Korn shell, thus coming to
+ Berkeley's aid.</li>
+
+ <li><b>We may use Sprite, or the Sprite file system with
+ MACH.</b> We still hope to use the MACH kernel from CMU when it
+ becomes free, after the parts of Berkeley Unix which currently
+ form part of it have been replaced as planned. The MACH people
+ say that in a month or two certain new features (call-outs from
+ the kernel to user code) should be ready that will enable us to
+ start working on replacing some of these parts with new code.
+ One thing we are considering is adapting the file system from
+ Berkeley's Sprite kernel for use in MACH. This file system was
+ designed from the beginning to work in a distributed manner.
+ The file system is the largest part of MACH that needs
+ replacement, now that the Berkeley TCP/IP code, also used in
+ MACH, has been declared free.</li>
+
+ <li>
+ <b>GNU Make is done.</b> The GNU version of Make is now
+ ready, and will be distributed soon. It features
+ conditionals, pattern rules, and indirect search for implicit
+ rules, and built-in functions for text processing. Here is
+ how a GNU Makefile can say that the file `foo' is linked from
+ the object files of all C source files in the current
+ directory:
+ <pre>
objects=$(subst .c,.o,$(wildcard *.c))
foo: $(objects)
$(CC) -o foo $(objects) $(LDFLAGS)
-</PRE>
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Most libraries are done.</B>
-
-<B>Roland McGrath</B>, who contributed a great deal to GNU Make, has a nearly
-complete set of ANSI C library functions. We hope they will be ready some
-time this spring. These join the GNU <CODE>malloc</CODE>, <CODE>regexp</CODE>
and
-<CODE>termcap</CODE> libraries that have existed for some time.
-
-Meanwhile, <B>Steve Moshier</B> has contributed a full series of mathematical
-library functions.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Profiler replacement done.</B>
-
-Foundation staffer <B>Jay Fenlason</B> has recently completed a profiler to
-go with GNU C, compatible with `prof' from Berkeley Unix. I hope it
-will be distributed with GNU C soon.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Termcap Manual.</B>
-
-We are now publishing the first thorough manual for Termcap, which some
-have suggested ought to be entitled "Twice as much as you ever wanted to
-know about Termcap".
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GNU mailer being done.</B>
-
-<B>Landon Noll</B> and <B>Ronald Karr</B> of Amdahl are writing a mail
queueing and
-delivery system, called Smail. This project will be a supported part
-of Amdahl's UTS system--and it will be available on exactly the same
-terms as GNU Emacs!
-
-We may use this mailer for the GNU system, or another mailer that
-<B>Rayan Zachariasen</B> is writing, whichever turns out better.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Ghostscript status</B>
-
-Ghostscript, the free Postscript for GNU, will with luck be finished by
-<B>Peter Deutsch</B> (except for bugs) in March. Therefore, it might be ready
-for us to distribute a few months later.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Emacs version 18.50</B>
-
-This version, to be available in a few weeks, will fix many bugs and add
-support for the 80386, the Sun 4, the Convex, the IRIS 4d and the HP 9000
-series 800; also support for system V.3; and add support for version 11 of
-the X window system.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GDB can read COFF format.</B>
-
-COFF is the hairy executable file format used on system V.
-Recently <B>Dave Johnson</B> of Brown University contributed support
-for reading COFF files in GDB, the GNU debugger. This code will
-appear in GDB 2.5, accompanying Emacs 18.50.
-
-As a result, it should now be possible to use GDB on system V
-without a large amount of work.
-
-In general, support for COFF isn't important for the GNU project,
-since we are going to use the BSD object file format in GNU.
-Everything said below about VMS applies to COFF support as well.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>G<CODE>++</CODE>, the GNU C<CODE>++</CODE> compiler.</B>
-
-<B>Michael Tiemann</B> of MCC has written a C<CODE>++</CODE> compiler as an
extension
-of GNU C. This is the first compiler that compiles C<CODE>++</CODE> directly
-instead of preprocessing it into C.
-
-G<CODE>++</CODE> is now being tested at several sites. Michael believes it is
as
-reliable as AT&T's C<CODE>++</CODE> preprocessor, but this still leaves a
long way
-to go before it is a solid product.
-
-G<CODE>++</CODE> comes with GDB<CODE>+</CODE>, a version of GDB that supports
C<CODE>++</CODE> class
-operations in its expression evaluator.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GDB and GNU C support the 32000.</B>
-
-GNU C has now compiled itself correctly on the Sequent 32000 system.
-The port was done by Michael Tiemann of MCC, who says it is more
-reliable than Sequent's compiler and yields a 40% speedup for several
-programs including a prolog interpreter.
-
-Support for the 32000 is now released in GNU C version 1.17, along
-with existing support for the 68000 series and the VAX.
-
-GDB support for the 32000 is in GDB 2.5, to appear with Emacs 18.50.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GNU C ports in progress.</B>
-
-People are working on porting GNU C to the IBM 370, to the IBM RT/PC,
-and to the 80386. The 80386 is the easiest; there is little doubt
-that this port will be available in a few months at most. The other
-machines have more troublesome architectural differences and it isn't
-yet certain whether GNU C can handle them fully without significant new
-features.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GNU C is becoming reliable.</B>
-
-GNU C bug reports are becoming less frequent, suggesting that it is
-approaching a state of reliability. People are still reporting bugs,
-but they also say they think there are fewer bugs than in commercial
-compilers.
-
-<B>John Gilmore</B> is now compiling all of BSD Unix with GNU C. He has
-found several bugs, but not a great number for such a large amount
-of code never before compiled.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GNU C for VMS.</B>
-
-Fed up with the deficiencies of the VMS C compiler, <B>David Kashtan</B>
-from SRI decided to spend a couple of weeks and make GNU C run on
-VMS. After making considerable changes to satisfy the VMS C compiler,
-he got it running and was able to take most of the changes out.
-
-We hope to deliver VMS support in GNU C version 1.19 or 1.20,
-but we can't be certain when he will finish merging it and deliver it.
-(Uh oh, I hope it's not going to take a year...)
-
-When VMS support is delivered to us, the usual GNU C sources will contain
-everything needed for it, but you won't be able to compile them with the
-standard VMS C compiler due to its various incompatibilities and
-deficiencies. You will need a binary of GNU C. We plan to offer mag tapes
-with VMS backup savesets containing binaries as well as sources.
-
-Other GNU programs currently working on VMS include GNU Emacs and Bison.
-
-Please don't ask us to devote effort to additional VMS support,
-because it is peripheral to the GNU project. We merge in and support
-VMS ports that users do, because it is hard to refuse to pass on work
-that other people have done. But even when the changes are clean,
-this drains considerable effort from our real goal, which is to
-produce a complete integrated system. (When they aren't clean, we
-summon up the courage to ignore them.) Merging VMS GNU Emacs and
-reorganizing the changes to ease future maintenance consumed several
-weeks even though the "real work" was done by others. I hope we have
-learned not to let this happen again.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Looking for a tech writer.</B>
-
-We are trying to hire a technical writer, but so far we have not found
-anyone suitable. It seems that tech writers are not as likely as
-programmers to accept a pay cut to work for our cause. We still have
-a couple of candidates who are possible, and we're still looking.
-
-</UL>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC9" HREF="bull4.html#TOC9">GNU C++</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-<I>brings Object Oriented Programming to GNU</I>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-by Michael Tiemann
-<P>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-C<CODE>++</CODE> is among the most popular languages for object-oriented
-programming, for two reasons: it is nearly a superset of C, thus
-making it easily accessible to the C user community, and it is
-supported by AT&T, which leads a standards-hungry public to believe
-that, by subscribing to C<CODE>++</CODE> (as opposed to SmallTalk, Objective
C, or
-many other alternatives), they are following "the standard". About
-a million lines of code have been written in C<CODE>++</CODE>.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Last summer, I was faced with the task of selecting a language to use for a
-new computer architecture project. So strong was the influence of
-C<CODE>++</CODE>, that the only decision I could make was "which one".
-C<CODE>++</CODE> from AT&T looked like the logical choice, except for two
-problems: it is proprietary software, and it is a preprocessor which
-converts C<CODE>++</CODE> code into C code. This is slow and means that the
-constructs and concepts of C<CODE>++</CODE> aren't available in the debugger.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-I decided to see whether we could quickly modify GNU C into a C<CODE>++</CODE>
-compiler that has the quality people expect from compilers for other
-languages, such as easy retargetability and source-level debugging
-support. I could--and I have.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-The GNU C<CODE>++</CODE> compiler is intended to implement the C<CODE>++</CODE>
-programming language, as specified in Stroustrup's reference manual. Since
-most of the GNU C compiler is language-independent, it only took six months
-to make a general beta-test release. There are still gaps and bugs, but I
-am working hard on finishing it. All the optimizations of GNU C apply
-equally to C<CODE>++</CODE>. I have also added C<CODE>++</CODE>-inspired
-optimizations. Some of them, such as inlining functions, will also work in
-some cases for C; others, such as optimizing virtual functions, are
-strictly C<CODE>++</CODE>.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-GNU C<CODE>++</CODE> is not only the first free C<CODE>++</CODE> compiler; it
is the
-first <EM>direct</EM> compiler for C<CODE>++</CODE> available at any price,
and it
-is the first C<CODE>++</CODE> implementation to interface with a
C<CODE>++</CODE>
-source-level debugger (GDB<CODE>+</CODE>, a modification of the existing GNU
-debugger).
-
-</P>
-<P>
-GNU C<CODE>++</CODE> is therefore remarkable from a technical point of view,
but
-it is even more remarkable organizationally, because it is free
-software whose development was paid for by the Microelectronics and
-Computer Technology Corporation (MCC), a consortium established in
-1982 to do long range research for around 20 shareholder companies.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-In January, six months after I started working on GNU C<CODE>++</CODE>, the
group
-of MCC shareholders sponsoring the computer architecture project were
-told for the first time that I was writing free software. It was easy
-to imagine they might disapprove, Scrooge-like, or even insist on
-halting the work. But it was just the opposite: our cooperation with
-the Free Software Foundation was good news to them. Technology
-transfer is one of the most difficult barriers for shareholders to
-overcome when picking up MCC research.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-When MCC delivers specialized software, it comes with no experts beyond
-those who wrote it, and it is all but unusable except by painful learning.
-When we deliver software that relies on a proprietary environment which
-they do not have access to, that software becomes an expensive hostage of
-its environment. By providing software which can be made accessible to
-anybody, without fear of compromising cooperative agreements, it gives the
-shareholders freedom to use that technology in ways previously unavailable
-to them.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Our group was specifically congratulated on its achievement of delivering
-technology that they wanted, and making that technology available via the
-Free Software Foundation. Considering that this is the first free software
-that MCC has ever sponsored, and the incredibly positive reaction that we
-received, it is very exciting to think of the possibilities that lie ahead.
-
-</P>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC10" HREF="bull4.html#TOC10">GNU Software Available Now</A></H1>
-
-
-<UL>
-<LI>
-
-<B>GNU Emacs</B>
-
-In 1975, Richard Stallman developed the first Emacs: the extensible,
-customizable real-time display editor. GNU Emacs is his second
-implementation of Emacs. It's the first Emacs available on Unix
-systems which offers true Lisp, smoothly integrated into the editor,
-for writing extensions. It also provides a special interface to
-MIT's free X window system, version 10, which makes redisplay very fast.
-
-GNU Emacs has been in widespread use since 1985 and often, as at
-MIT's Project Athena, displaces proprietary implementations of Emacs
-because of its greater reliability as well as its good features
-and easier extensibility.
-
-GNU Emacs (as of version 18.50) has run on many kinds of Unix systems:
-those made by Alliant (system release 1, 2 or 3), Amdahl (UTS), AT&T (3b
-machines and 7300 pc), CCI 5/32 and 6/32, Celerity, Convex, Digital (Vax,
-not PDP-11), Dual, Elxsi 6400, Encore, GEC 93, Gould, HP (9000 series 200,
-300 or 800 (Spectrum) but not series 500), IBM (RT/PC running 4.2 and AIX),
-Integrated Solutions (Optimum V with 68020 and VMEbus), Iris (2500 Turbo
-and 4D), LMI (Nu), Masscomp, Megatest, MIPS, NCR (Tower 32), Nixdorf Targon
-31, Plexus, Pyramid, Sequent, Stride (system release 2), Sun (any kind),
-Tahoe, Tektronix (NS16000 system), Texas Instruments (Nu), Whitechapel
-(MG1), and Wicat. These include both Berkeley Unix and System V (release
-0, 2, 2.2 or 3). Emacs also runs on several 80386 machines. It also runs
-on Apollo machines and on VAX/VMS.
-
-GNU Emacs use is described by the GNU Emacs Manual, available from
-the Free Software Foundation.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GDB</B>
-
-GDB is the source-level C debugger written for the GNU project in 1986. It
-offers many features not usually found in debuggers on Unix, such as a
-history that records all values examined within the debugger for concise
-later reference, multi-line user-defined commands, and a strong
-self-documentation capability. It currently runs on VAXen under 4.2 and
-4.3bsd, on Suns (systems version 2 and 3), and on some 32000 systems.
-
-A users' manual for GDB is available from the Foundation.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>GNU CC</B>
-
-The GNU C compiler is a fairly portable optimizing compiler. It generates
-good code for the 32000, 68000, 68020 and Vax. It features automatic
-register packing that makes register declarations unnecessary. It supports
-full ANSI C as of the latest draft standard. The texinfo source of the
-manual "Internals of GNU CC" is included.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Bison</B>
-
-Bison is an upward-compatible replacement for YACC, with additional
-as-yet-undocumented features. It has been in use for several years.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>X Window System</B>
-
-X is a portable, network transparent window system for bitmap displays
-written at MIT and DEC. It currently runs on DEC VAXstation, Lexidata 90,
-and most Sun Microsystems displays, with others in the works. X supports
-overlapping windows and fully recursive subwindows, and provides hooks for
-several different styles of user interface. Applications provided include
-a terminal emulator, bitmap editor, several window managers, clock, window
-dump and undump programs, hardcopy printing program for the LN03 printer,
-and several typesetting previewers.
-
-Version 10 of X Windows is distributed on the GNU Emacs tape; version 11
-(which is totally incompatible) is distributed on the GCC tape. Emacs
-version 18.50 will support both versions 10 and 11.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>MIT Scheme</B>
-
-Scheme is a simplified, lexically scoped dialect of Lisp, designed at
-MIT and other universities for two purposes: teaching students of
-programming, and researching new parallel programming constructs
-and compilation techniques. MIT Scheme is written in C and runs on
-many kinds of Unix systems.
-
-Sorry, we do not distribute documentation with the the current distribution
-version of MIT Scheme. A new standard for Scheme has been designed by the
-various labs that work on Scheme, and work is going on at MIT to change MIT
-Scheme to fit. Once that is done, the standard will serve as a manual for
-MIT Scheme. At that time, we will distribute both the new release of
-Scheme and the standard. In the meantime, several books have been
-published about Scheme.
-
-<LI>
-
-<B>Hack</B>
-
-Hack is a display oriented adventure game similar to Rogue.
-</UL>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC11" HREF="bull4.html#TOC11">The GDB Song</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-<I>with thanks to Joel Bion, Mark Baushke, and Lynn Slater</I>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Somebody asked us what was GDB. With apologies to Oscar Hammerstein
-II, Richard Rodgers, and Julie Andrews, we offered the following reply:
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start,
-<P>
-
-</P>
-<P>
- When you're learning to sing, its Do, Re, Mi; <BR>
- When you're learning to code, its G, D, B. <BR>
-
-</P>
-<P>
- (background) G, D, B.
-
-</P>
-<P>
- The first three letters just happen to be, G, D, B.
-
-</P>
-<P>
- (background) G, D, B.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-(Chorus)
-<P>
-
-</P>
-<DL COMPACT>
-
-<DT>G!,
-<DD>
- GNU!, it's Stallman's hope,
-
-<DT>B,
-<DD>
- a break I set myself.
-
-<DT>D,
-<DD>
- debug that rotten code,
-
-<DT>Run,
-<DD>
- a far, far way to go.
-
-<DT>Print,
-<DD>
- to see what you have done,
-
-<DT>Set,
-<DD>
- a patch that follows print.
-
-<DT>Quit,
-<DD>
- and recompile your code - - -
-
-</DL>
-<P>
-
+</pre>
+ </li>
-<PRE>
+ <li><b>Most libraries are done.</b> <b>Roland McGrath</b>, who
+ contributed a great deal to GNU Make, has a nearly complete set
+ of ANSI C library functions. We hope they will be ready some
+ time this spring. These join the GNU <code>malloc</code>,
+ <code>regexp</code> and <code>termcap</code> libraries that
+ have existed for some time. Meanwhile, <b>Steve Moshier</b> has
+ contributed a full series of mathematical library
+ functions.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Profiler replacement done.</b> Foundation staffer <b>Jay
+ Fenlason</b> has recently completed a profiler to go with GNU
+ C, compatible with `prof' from Berkeley Unix. I hope it will be
+ distributed with GNU C soon.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Termcap Manual.</b> We are now publishing the first
+ thorough manual for Termcap, which some have suggested ought to
+ be entitled "Twice as much as you ever wanted to know about
+ Termcap".</li>
+
+ <li><b>GNU mailer being done.</b> <b>Landon Noll</b> and
+ <b>Ronald Karr</b> of Amdahl are writing a mail queueing and
+ delivery system, called Smail. This project will be a supported
+ part of Amdahl's UTS system--and it will be available on
+ exactly the same terms as GNU Emacs! We may use this mailer for
+ the GNU system, or another mailer that <b>Rayan Zachariasen</b>
+ is writing, whichever turns out better.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Ghostscript status</b> Ghostscript, the free Postscript
+ for GNU, will with luck be finished by <b>Peter Deutsch</b>
+ (except for bugs) in March. Therefore, it might be ready for us
+ to distribute a few months later.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Emacs version 18.50</b> This version, to be available in
+ a few weeks, will fix many bugs and add support for the 80386,
+ the Sun 4, the Convex, the IRIS 4d and the HP 9000 series 800;
+ also support for system V.3; and add support for version 11 of
+ the X window system.</li>
+
+ <li><b>GDB can read COFF format.</b> COFF is the hairy
+ executable file format used on system V. Recently <b>Dave
+ Johnson</b> of Brown University contributed support for reading
+ COFF files in GDB, the GNU debugger. This code will appear in
+ GDB 2.5, accompanying Emacs 18.50. As a result, it should now
+ be possible to use GDB on system V without a large amount of
+ work. In general, support for COFF isn't important for the GNU
+ project, since we are going to use the BSD object file format
+ in GNU. Everything said below about VMS applies to COFF support
+ as well.</li>
+
+ <li><b>G<code>++</code>, the GNU C<code>++</code> compiler.</b>
+ <b>Michael Tiemann</b> of MCC has written a C<code>++</code>
+ compiler as an extension of GNU C. This is the first compiler
+ that compiles C<code>++</code> directly instead of
+ preprocessing it into C. G<code>++</code> is now being tested
+ at several sites. Michael believes it is as reliable as
+ AT&T's C<code>++</code> preprocessor, but this still leaves
+ a long way to go before it is a solid product. G<code>++</code>
+ comes with GDB<code>+</code>, a version of GDB that supports
+ C<code>++</code> class operations in its expression
+ evaluator.</li>
+
+ <li><b>GDB and GNU C support the 32000.</b> GNU C has now
+ compiled itself correctly on the Sequent 32000 system. The port
+ was done by Michael Tiemann of MCC, who says it is more
+ reliable than Sequent's compiler and yields a 40% speedup for
+ several programs including a prolog interpreter. Support for
+ the 32000 is now released in GNU C version 1.17, along with
+ existing support for the 68000 series and the VAX. GDB support
+ for the 32000 is in GDB 2.5, to appear with Emacs 18.50.</li>
+
+ <li><b>GNU C ports in progress.</b> People are working on
+ porting GNU C to the IBM 370, to the IBM RT/PC, and to the
+ 80386. The 80386 is the easiest; there is little doubt that
+ this port will be available in a few months at most. The other
+ machines have more troublesome architectural differences and it
+ isn't yet certain whether GNU C can handle them fully without
+ significant new features.</li>
+
+ <li><b>GNU C is becoming reliable.</b> GNU C bug reports are
+ becoming less frequent, suggesting that it is approaching a
+ state of reliability. People are still reporting bugs, but they
+ also say they think there are fewer bugs than in commercial
+ compilers. <b>John Gilmore</b> is now compiling all of BSD Unix
+ with GNU C. He has found several bugs, but not a great number
+ for such a large amount of code never before compiled.</li>
+
+ <li><b>GNU C for VMS.</b> Fed up with the deficiencies of the
+ VMS C compiler, <b>David Kashtan</b> from SRI decided to spend
+ a couple of weeks and make GNU C run on VMS. After making
+ considerable changes to satisfy the VMS C compiler, he got it
+ running and was able to take most of the changes out. We hope
+ to deliver VMS support in GNU C version 1.19 or 1.20, but we
+ can't be certain when he will finish merging it and deliver it.
+ (Uh oh, I hope it's not going to take a year...) When VMS
+ support is delivered to us, the usual GNU C sources will
+ contain everything needed for it, but you won't be able to
+ compile them with the standard VMS C compiler due to its
+ various incompatibilities and deficiencies. You will need a
+ binary of GNU C. We plan to offer mag tapes with VMS backup
+ savesets containing binaries as well as sources. Other GNU
+ programs currently working on VMS include GNU Emacs and Bison.
+ Please don't ask us to devote effort to additional VMS support,
+ because it is peripheral to the GNU project. We merge in and
+ support VMS ports that users do, because it is hard to refuse
+ to pass on work that other people have done. But even when the
+ changes are clean, this drains considerable effort from our
+ real goal, which is to produce a complete integrated system.
+ (When they aren't clean, we summon up the courage to ignore
+ them.) Merging VMS GNU Emacs and reorganizing the changes to
+ ease future maintenance consumed several weeks even though the
+ "real work" was done by others. I hope we have learned not to
+ let this happen again.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Looking for a tech writer.</b> We are trying to hire a
+ technical writer, but so far we have not found anyone suitable.
+ It seems that tech writers are not as likely as programmers to
+ accept a pay cut to work for our cause. We still have a couple
+ of candidates who are possible, and we're still looking.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h1><a name="SEC9" href="bull4.html#TOC9" id="SEC9">GNU
+ C++</a></h1>
+
+ <p><i>brings Object Oriented Programming to GNU</i></p>
+
+ <p>by Michael Tiemann</p>
+
+ <p>C<code>++</code> is among the most popular languages for
+ object-oriented programming, for two reasons: it is nearly a
+ superset of C, thus making it easily accessible to the C user
+ community, and it is supported by AT&T, which leads a
+ standards-hungry public to believe that, by subscribing to
+ C<code>++</code> (as opposed to SmallTalk, Objective C, or many
+ other alternatives), they are following "the standard". About a
+ million lines of code have been written in C<code>++</code>.</p>
+
+ <p>Last summer, I was faced with the task of selecting a language
+ to use for a new computer architecture project. So strong was the
+ influence of C<code>++</code>, that the only decision I could
+ make was "which one". C<code>++</code> from AT&T looked like
+ the logical choice, except for two problems: it is proprietary
+ software, and it is a preprocessor which converts
+ C<code>++</code> code into C code. This is slow and means that
+ the constructs and concepts of C<code>++</code> aren't available
+ in the debugger.</p>
+
+ <p>I decided to see whether we could quickly modify GNU C into a
+ C<code>++</code> compiler that has the quality people expect from
+ compilers for other languages, such as easy retargetability and
+ source-level debugging support. I could--and I have.</p>
+
+ <p>The GNU C<code>++</code> compiler is intended to implement the
+ C<code>++</code> programming language, as specified in
+ Stroustrup's reference manual. Since most of the GNU C compiler
+ is language-independent, it only took six months to make a
+ general beta-test release. There are still gaps and bugs, but I
+ am working hard on finishing it. All the optimizations of GNU C
+ apply equally to C<code>++</code>. I have also added
+ C<code>++</code>-inspired optimizations. Some of them, such as
+ inlining functions, will also work in some cases for C; others,
+ such as optimizing virtual functions, are strictly
+ C<code>++</code>.</p>
+
+ <p>GNU C<code>++</code> is not only the first free
+ C<code>++</code> compiler; it is the first <em>direct</em>
+ compiler for C<code>++</code> available at any price, and it is
+ the first C<code>++</code> implementation to interface with a
+ C<code>++</code> source-level debugger (GDB<code>+</code>, a
+ modification of the existing GNU debugger).</p>
+
+ <p>GNU C<code>++</code> is therefore remarkable from a technical
+ point of view, but it is even more remarkable organizationally,
+ because it is free software whose development was paid for by the
+ Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC), a
+ consortium established in 1982 to do long range research for
+ around 20 shareholder companies.</p>
+
+ <p>In January, six months after I started working on GNU
+ C<code>++</code>, the group of MCC shareholders sponsoring the
+ computer architecture project were told for the first time that I
+ was writing free software. It was easy to imagine they might
+ disapprove, Scrooge-like, or even insist on halting the work. But
+ it was just the opposite: our cooperation with the Free Software
+ Foundation was good news to them. Technology transfer is one of
+ the most difficult barriers for shareholders to overcome when
+ picking up MCC research.</p>
+
+ <p>When MCC delivers specialized software, it comes with no
+ experts beyond those who wrote it, and it is all but unusable
+ except by painful learning. When we deliver software that relies
+ on a proprietary environment which they do not have access to,
+ that software becomes an expensive hostage of its environment. By
+ providing software which can be made accessible to anybody,
+ without fear of compromising cooperative agreements, it gives the
+ shareholders freedom to use that technology in ways previously
+ unavailable to them.</p>
+
+ <p>Our group was specifically congratulated on its achievement of
+ delivering technology that they wanted, and making that
+ technology available via the Free Software Foundation.
+ Considering that this is the first free software that MCC has
+ ever sponsored, and the incredibly positive reaction that we
+ received, it is very exciting to think of the possibilities that
+ lie ahead.</p>
+
+ <h1><a name="SEC10" href="bull4.html#TOC10" id="SEC10">GNU
+ Software Available Now</a></h1>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><b>GNU Emacs</b> In 1975, Richard Stallman developed the
+ first Emacs: the extensible, customizable real-time display
+ editor. GNU Emacs is his second implementation of Emacs. It's
+ the first Emacs available on Unix systems which offers true
+ Lisp, smoothly integrated into the editor, for writing
+ extensions. It also provides a special interface to MIT's free
+ X window system, version 10, which makes redisplay very fast.
+ GNU Emacs has been in widespread use since 1985 and often, as
+ at MIT's Project Athena, displaces proprietary implementations
+ of Emacs because of its greater reliability as well as its good
+ features and easier extensibility. GNU Emacs (as of version
+ 18.50) has run on many kinds of Unix systems: those made by
+ Alliant (system release 1, 2 or 3), Amdahl (UTS), AT&T (3b
+ machines and 7300 pc), CCI 5/32 and 6/32, Celerity, Convex,
+ Digital (Vax, not PDP-11), Dual, Elxsi 6400, Encore, GEC 93,
+ Gould, HP (9000 series 200, 300 or 800 (Spectrum) but not
+ series 500), IBM (RT/PC running 4.2 and AIX), Integrated
+ Solutions (Optimum V with 68020 and VMEbus), Iris (2500 Turbo
+ and 4D), LMI (Nu), Masscomp, Megatest, MIPS, NCR (Tower 32),
+ Nixdorf Targon 31, Plexus, Pyramid, Sequent, Stride (system
+ release 2), Sun (any kind), Tahoe, Tektronix (NS16000 system),
+ Texas Instruments (Nu), Whitechapel (MG1), and Wicat. These
+ include both Berkeley Unix and System V (release 0, 2, 2.2 or
+ 3). Emacs also runs on several 80386 machines. It also runs on
+ Apollo machines and on VAX/VMS. GNU Emacs use is described by
+ the GNU Emacs Manual, available from the Free Software
+ Foundation.</li>
+
+ <li><b>GDB</b> GDB is the source-level C debugger written for
+ the GNU project in 1986. It offers many features not usually
+ found in debuggers on Unix, such as a history that records all
+ values examined within the debugger for concise later
+ reference, multi-line user-defined commands, and a strong
+ self-documentation capability. It currently runs on VAXen under
+ 4.2 and 4.3bsd, on Suns (systems version 2 and 3), and on some
+ 32000 systems. A users' manual for GDB is available from the
+ Foundation.</li>
+
+ <li><b>GNU CC</b> The GNU C compiler is a fairly portable
+ optimizing compiler. It generates good code for the 32000,
+ 68000, 68020 and Vax. It features automatic register packing
+ that makes register declarations unnecessary. It supports full
+ ANSI C as of the latest draft standard. The texinfo source of
+ the manual "Internals of GNU CC" is included.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Bison</b> Bison is an upward-compatible replacement for
+ YACC, with additional as-yet-undocumented features. It has been
+ in use for several years.</li>
+
+ <li><b>X Window System</b> X is a portable, network transparent
+ window system for bitmap displays written at MIT and DEC. It
+ currently runs on DEC VAXstation, Lexidata 90, and most Sun
+ Microsystems displays, with others in the works. X supports
+ overlapping windows and fully recursive subwindows, and
+ provides hooks for several different styles of user interface.
+ Applications provided include a terminal emulator, bitmap
+ editor, several window managers, clock, window dump and undump
+ programs, hardcopy printing program for the LN03 printer, and
+ several typesetting previewers. Version 10 of X Windows is
+ distributed on the GNU Emacs tape; version 11 (which is totally
+ incompatible) is distributed on the GCC tape. Emacs version
+ 18.50 will support both versions 10 and 11.</li>
+
+ <li><b>MIT Scheme</b> Scheme is a simplified, lexically scoped
+ dialect of Lisp, designed at MIT and other universities for two
+ purposes: teaching students of programming, and researching new
+ parallel programming constructs and compilation techniques. MIT
+ Scheme is written in C and runs on many kinds of Unix systems.
+ Sorry, we do not distribute documentation with the the current
+ distribution version of MIT Scheme. A new standard for Scheme
+ has been designed by the various labs that work on Scheme, and
+ work is going on at MIT to change MIT Scheme to fit. Once that
+ is done, the standard will serve as a manual for MIT Scheme. At
+ that time, we will distribute both the new release of Scheme
+ and the standard. In the meantime, several books have been
+ published about Scheme.</li>
+
+ <li><b>Hack</b> Hack is a display oriented adventure game
+ similar to Rogue.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h1><a name="SEC11" href="bull4.html#TOC11" id="SEC11">The GDB
+ Song</a></h1>
+
+ <p><i>with thanks to Joel Bion, Mark Baushke, and Lynn
+ Slater</i></p>
+
+ <p>Somebody asked us what was GDB. With apologies to Oscar
+ Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers, and Julie Andrews, we offered
+ the following reply:</p>
+
+ <p>Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to
+ start,</p>
+
+ <p>When you're learning to sing, its Do, Re, Mi;<br />
+ When you're learning to code, its G, D, B.<br /></p>
+
+ <p>(background) G, D, B.</p>
+
+ <p>The first three letters just happen to be, G, D, B.</p>
+
+ <p>(background) G, D, B.</p>
+
+ <p>(Chorus)</p>
+
+ <dl compact="compact">
+ <dt>G!,</dt>
+
+ <dd>GNU!, it's Stallman's hope,</dd>
+
+ <dt>B,</dt>
+
+ <dd>a break I set myself.</dd>
+
+ <dt>D,</dt>
+
+ <dd>debug that rotten code,</dd>
+
+ <dt>Run,</dt>
+
+ <dd>a far, far way to go.</dd>
+
+ <dt>Print,</dt>
+
+ <dd>to see what you have done,</dd>
+
+ <dt>Set,</dt>
+
+ <dd>a patch that follows print.</dd>
+
+ <dt>Quit,</dt>
+
+ <dd>and recompile your code - - -</dd>
+ </dl>
+ <pre>
That will bring it back to G,
D,
B,
- <link>
-</PRE>
-
-<P>
+ <link>
+</pre>
-<P>
-(Resume from the Chorus)
+ <p>(Resume from the Chorus)</p>
-</P>
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC12" HREF="bull4.html#TOC12">Why Was Copyright
Invented?</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-by Richard M. Stallman
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Now that copyright is becoming a public nuisance that the public tries
-to ignore, copyright owners try to justify this imposition by calling
-it an intrinsic right. As they tell it, their intrinsic right is a
-tradition that makes the public good irrelevant.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-This is contrary to the facts of the history of copyright.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-The Supreme Court has stated explicitly what copyright was for.
-Writing for the Court, Justice Stewart explained:
-
-</P>
-
-<BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>
-The immediate effect of our copyright law is to secure a fair return
-for an "author's" creative labor. But the ultimate aim is, by this
-incentive, to stimulate artistic creativity for the general public good.
-`The sole interest of the United States and the primary object in
-conferring the [copyright] monopoly,' this Court has said, `lie in the
-general benefits derived by the public from the labors of authors.'
-</BLOCKQUOTE>
-
-
-<PRE>
-<TT> </TT>---Fox Film Corp. v. Doyal (286 US 123, 127)
-</PRE>
-
-<P>
-So when copyright interferes with the public use of a program, that
-directly attacks the reason for having copyright.
-
-</P>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC13" HREF="bull4.html#TOC13">When Programs Become
Available</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-<I>or Rather, how NOT to find out when a program becomes available...</I>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-by Richard M. Stallman
-<P>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-I have dared to make a few predictions about when certain programs
-will be ready for distribution. Now, after the fact, I hope that
-wasn't a mistake.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Creating a given program often takes much longer than expected. If
-this happens, many of you who are eager to use it might have the idea
-of phoning or writing to ask me whether the program is available yet.
-Or, even worse, to describe which parts are completed, or which
-machines it will be ported to, or how easy it will be to port to
-certain machines, or which features are going to be implemented.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Some of these questions have no answers. When a program isn't
-finished, we don't know which features we will add while finishing it.
-We don't make plans to port programs because our usual policy is to
-leave porting up to you. This is a way of recruiting wider
-participation.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Responding to all possible inquiries would divert time and energy and slow
-the completion of the program, causing even more inquiries. Were we to
-permit this to happen, the amount of time left to devote to programming
-could approach zero.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Only you can save the GNU project from this absurd fate. Please
-exert your will power, be patient, and wait for us to announce that
-programs are available. If you would like to see more GNU software
-appear faster, the best thing to do is to volunteer a significant
-amount of your time.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-The best way to find out quickly when a piece of GNU software is released
-or updated for general on-line distribution is to arrange to receive the
-info-gnu mailing list on which our announcements are made. To receive
-info-gnu, send a request to
-
-</P>
-<P>
-<CODE>ucbvax!prep.ai.mit.edu!info-gnu-request (usenet)</CODE>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-<CODE>address@hidden (internet)</CODE>
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Some specific programs such as Emacs, GCC, GDB, GNU Chess, and G<CODE>++</CODE>
-have specific mailing lists of their own on which new versions are
-announced. To be on these lists, just mention in your request which
-programs you are interested in.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Tape distribution normally starts some weeks later than on-line
-distribution, either because we demand a higher standard of
-reliability for users who cannot easily get upgrades, or because we
-are hopelessly confused and can't get our act together. We generally
-make another electronic announcement when tape distribution starts.
-You can order tapes in advance if you wish, if you understand that
-delivery may be delayed for many weeks while we work on reliability.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-When we expect true reliability to take many months to achieve, we may
-offer a beta-test tape at an earlier date, as we are doing with GNU C.
-We announce these tapes in the usual ways.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-If you can't receive Usenet or Internet mail and you are planning to order
-a tape of a specific program, you can telephone the Foundation to find out
-whether the program is available for tape distribution. Our phone number
-is (617) 876-3296. It is best to call in the morning, EST, as you will be
-more likely to reach Opus Goldstein, our office and shipping person,
-rather than our tape machine. In general, Opus cannot contact each
-person individually to say when a tape is ready, but perhaps an arrangement
-can be made if it is important.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-If you are planning to get a copy from someone else, please ask that
-person to inform you when it is ready. This will spread the burden.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-If you are truly desperate for a prognostication, you might try
-consulting your local fortune-tellers. They don't know any less than
-we about the future.
-
-</P>
-
-
-<H3><A NAME="SEC14" HREF="bull4.html#TOC14">GNU Wish List</A></H3>
-
-
-<UL>
-<LI>
-
-Money, as always. Please remember, we are tax-deductable and, among other
-things, we want to hire somebody to write documentation!!!
-
-<LI>
-
-Office equipment, e.g. a desktop copier; a nifty new phone answering
-machine that deletes old messages; a couple of Sun workstations or VAXen;
-1200/2400/4800/9600 baud modems; and an electric typewriter that has a
-delete key.
-
-<LI>
-
-Highly knowledgible technical people to write excellent documentation on
-a volunteer basis.
-
-<LI>
-
-Top flight programmers to help write utilities and compilers for new
-languages.
-
-<LI>
-
-Clipings of media articles mentioning GNU.
-</UL>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC15" HREF="bull4.html#TOC15">How To Get GNU Software</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-All the software and publications from the Free Software Foundation
-are distributed with permission to
-copy and redistribute. The easiest way to get a copy of GNU software
-is from someone else who has it. Just copy it from them.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-If you have access to the Internet, you can get the latest
-software from the host <TT>`prep.ai.mit.edu'</TT>. For
-more information, read the file <TT>`/u2/emacs/GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE'</TT>
-on that host.
-
-</P>
-
-<P>
-If you cannot get the software from a friend or over the net, the Free
-Software Foundation distributes tapes for a copying and distribution fee.
-See the order form on the inside back cover.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-If you do not have net access, and your computers cannot use either of the
-two media we distribute on, you must get our software from third party
-groups--people and organizations that do not work with us, but have our
-software in other forms. For your convenience, other groups that are
-helping to spread GNU software are listed below. Please note that the Free
-Software Foundation is <I>not</I> affiliated with them in any way, and is not
-responsible for either the currency of their versions or the swiftness of
-their responses.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-These Internet sites have some GNU programs available for anonymous FTP:
-<CODE>louie.udel.edu</CODE>, <CODE>nic.nyser.net</CODE>,
<CODE>bu-it.bu.edu</CODE>,
-<CODE>uunet.uu.net</CODE>, <CODE>spam.istc.sri.com</CODE>, and
<CODE>simtel20.arpa</CODE>
-(under PD:<Unix.GNU>).
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Information on how to uucp some GNU programs is available via electronic
-mail from: <CODE>address@hidden</CODE>, <CODE>ihnp4!hutch!barber</CODE>,
-<CODE>hqda-ai!merlin</CODE>. Also, you can ask:
-<CODE>hao!scicom!qetzal!upba!ugn!nepa!denny</CODE> or else from:
-<CODE>address@hidden</CODE>.
-
-</P>
-
-<P>
-Ohio State also uucps GNU programs. They post their instructions monthly
-to newsgroup <CODE>comp.sources.d</CODE> on Usenet. Current details from Karl
-Kleinpaste <CODE>address@hidden</CODE> or
-<CODE>address@hidden</CODE> or <CODE>...!cbosgd!osu-cis!karl</CODE>; or Bob
-Sutterfield (substitute bob for karl in the above addresses).
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Information on obtaining floppy disks of GNU Emacs for the AT&T Unix PC
-(aka 3B1 or PC7300) is available via electronic mail from:
-<CODE>address@hidden</CODE>.
-
-</P>
-
-
-
-<H1><A NAME="SEC16" HREF="bull4.html#TOC16">Thank GNUs</A></H1>
-
-<P>
-Thanks to all those mentioned in GNU Flashes.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, and its head,
-<B>Professor Dertouzos</B>. The LCS has provided FSF with the loan of a
-Microvax for program development.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory for invaluable
-assistance of many kinds.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to <B>Nobuyuki Hikichi</B> of Software Research Associates, Tokyo, for
-porting GCC to the SONY NEWS machine. Thanks also for the $10,000 they
-contributed.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to NeXT, Inc., for their improvements to the GNU Assembler and the
-Gnu DeBugger.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to <B>Micheal Tiemann</B> of MCC for extending GCC and GDB to handle
-C<CODE>++</CODE> and for porting GCC to the 32000 with some contributions from
-<B>Jan Stein</B> of the Chalmers Computer Club.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to <B>Ted Lemon</B> who wrote parts of the RTL reader and printer for
GCC.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-For porting GCC, thanks to <B>Charles LaBrec</B> (Integrated Solutions 68020
-system); to <B>Greg Satz</B>(HPUX); to <B>David Kashtan</B> (VMS).
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to <B>David S. Hayes</B> for enhancing GNU diff.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to <B>Dan LaLiberte</B> for spearheading the GNU Emacs Lisp Programmers
-Manual, and to <B>Bill Lewis</B> and <B>Tom Scott</B> who have been working on
-putting it all together.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to <B>Wolfgang Rupprecht</B> for providing floating point support for
-GNU Emacs.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to <B>Torbjorn Granlund</B> for fast implementations of
<CODE>split</CODE>,
-<CODE>wc</CODE>, <CODE>cmp</CODE>, <CODE>cat</CODE> and <CODE>cp</CODE>.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to all those who have contributed ports and extensions, as well as
-those who have contributed other source code, documentation, and good bug
-reports.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-Thanks to those who sent money and offered help. Thanks also to those
-who support us by ordering Emacs manuals and distribution tapes.
-
-</P>
-<P>
-The creation of this bulletin is our way of thanking all who have
-expressed interest in what we are doing.
+ <h1><a name="SEC12" href="bull4.html#TOC12" id="SEC12">Why Was
+ Copyright Invented?</a></h1>
-</P>
+ <p>by Richard M. Stallman</p>
-<P>
-<pre>
+ <p>Now that copyright is becoming a public nuisance that the
+ public tries to ignore, copyright owners try to justify this
+ imposition by calling it an intrinsic right. As they tell it,
+ their intrinsic right is a tradition that makes the public good
+ irrelevant.</p>
+
+ <p>This is contrary to the facts of the history of copyright.</p>
+
+ <p>The Supreme Court has stated explicitly what copyright was
+ for. Writing for the Court, Justice Stewart explained:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>The immediate effect of our copyright law is to secure a
+ fair return for an "author's" creative labor. But the ultimate
+ aim is, by this incentive, to stimulate artistic creativity for
+ the general public good. `The sole interest of the United
+ States and the primary object in conferring the [copyright]
+ monopoly,' this Court has said, `lie in the general benefits
+ derived by the public from the labors of authors.'</p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <pre>
+<tt> </tt>---Fox Film Corp. v. Doyal (286 US 123, 127)
+</pre>
+ <p>So when copyright interferes with the public use of a program,
+ that directly attacks the reason for having copyright.</p>
+ <h1><a name="SEC13" href="bull4.html#TOC13" id="SEC13">When
+ Programs Become Available</a></h1>
+ <p><i>or Rather, how NOT to find out when a program becomes
+ available...</i></p>
-</pre>
-<HR>
-<pre>
+ <p>by Richard M. Stallman</p>
+
+ <p>I have dared to make a few predictions about when certain
+ programs will be ready for distribution. Now, after the fact, I
+ hope that wasn't a mistake.</p>
+
+ <p>Creating a given program often takes much longer than
+ expected. If this happens, many of you who are eager to use it
+ might have the idea of phoning or writing to ask me whether the
+ program is available yet. Or, even worse, to describe which parts
+ are completed, or which machines it will be ported to, or how
+ easy it will be to port to certain machines, or which features
+ are going to be implemented.</p>
+
+ <p>Some of these questions have no answers. When a program isn't
+ finished, we don't know which features we will add while
+ finishing it. We don't make plans to port programs because our
+ usual policy is to leave porting up to you. This is a way of
+ recruiting wider participation.</p>
+
+ <p>Responding to all possible inquiries would divert time and
+ energy and slow the completion of the program, causing even more
+ inquiries. Were we to permit this to happen, the amount of time
+ left to devote to programming could approach zero.</p>
+
+ <p>Only you can save the GNU project from this absurd fate.
+ Please exert your will power, be patient, and wait for us to
+ announce that programs are available. If you would like to see
+ more GNU software appear faster, the best thing to do is to
+ volunteer a significant amount of your time.</p>
+
+ <p>The best way to find out quickly when a piece of GNU software
+ is released or updated for general on-line distribution is to
+ arrange to receive the info-gnu mailing list on which our
+ announcements are made. To receive info-gnu, send a request
+ to</p>
+
+ <p><code>ucbvax!prep.ai.mit.edu!info-gnu-request
+ (usenet)</code></p>
+
+ <p><code>address@hidden (internet)</code></p>
+
+ <p>Some specific programs such as Emacs, GCC, GDB, GNU Chess, and
+ G<code>++</code> have specific mailing lists of their own on
+ which new versions are announced. To be on these lists, just
+ mention in your request which programs you are interested in.</p>
+
+ <p>Tape distribution normally starts some weeks later than
+ on-line distribution, either because we demand a higher standard
+ of reliability for users who cannot easily get upgrades, or
+ because we are hopelessly confused and can't get our act
+ together. We generally make another electronic announcement when
+ tape distribution starts. You can order tapes in advance if you
+ wish, if you understand that delivery may be delayed for many
+ weeks while we work on reliability.</p>
+
+ <p>When we expect true reliability to take many months to
+ achieve, we may offer a beta-test tape at an earlier date, as we
+ are doing with GNU C. We announce these tapes in the usual
+ ways.</p>
+
+ <p>If you can't receive Usenet or Internet mail and you are
+ planning to order a tape of a specific program, you can telephone
+ the Foundation to find out whether the program is available for
+ tape distribution. Our phone number is (617) 876-3296. It is best
+ to call in the morning, EST, as you will be more likely to reach
+ Opus Goldstein, our office and shipping person, rather than our
+ tape machine. In general, Opus cannot contact each person
+ individually to say when a tape is ready, but perhaps an
+ arrangement can be made if it is important.</p>
+
+ <p>If you are planning to get a copy from someone else, please
+ ask that person to inform you when it is ready. This will spread
+ the burden.</p>
+
+ <p>If you are truly desperate for a prognostication, you might
+ try consulting your local fortune-tellers. They don't know any
+ less than we about the future.</p>
+
+ <h3><a name="SEC14" href="bull4.html#TOC14" id="SEC14">GNU Wish
+ List</a></h3>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>Money, as always. Please remember, we are tax-deductable
+ and, among other things, we want to hire somebody to write
+ documentation!!!</li>
+
+ <li>Office equipment, e.g. a desktop copier; a nifty new phone
+ answering machine that deletes old messages; a couple of Sun
+ workstations or VAXen; 1200/2400/4800/9600 baud modems; and an
+ electric typewriter that has a delete key.</li>
+
+ <li>Highly knowledgible technical people to write excellent
+ documentation on a volunteer basis.</li>
+
+ <li>Top flight programmers to help write utilities and
+ compilers for new languages.</li>
+
+ <li>Clipings of media articles mentioning GNU.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h1><a name="SEC15" href="bull4.html#TOC15" id="SEC15">How To Get
+ GNU Software</a></h1>
+
+ <p>All the software and publications from the Free Software
+ Foundation are distributed with permission to copy and
+ redistribute. The easiest way to get a copy of GNU software is
+ from someone else who has it. Just copy it from them.</p>
+
+ <p>If you have access to the Internet, you can get the latest
+ software from the host <tt>`prep.ai.mit.edu'</tt>. For more
+ information, read the file
+ <tt>`/u2/emacs/GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE'</tt> on that host.</p>
+
+ <p>If you cannot get the software from a friend or over the net,
+ the Free Software Foundation distributes tapes for a copying and
+ distribution fee. See the order form on the inside back
+ cover.</p>
+
+ <p>If you do not have net access, and your computers cannot use
+ either of the two media we distribute on, you must get our
+ software from third party groups--people and organizations that
+ do not work with us, but have our software in other forms. For
+ your convenience, other groups that are helping to spread GNU
+ software are listed below. Please note that the Free Software
+ Foundation is <i>not</i> affiliated with them in any way, and is
+ not responsible for either the currency of their versions or the
+ swiftness of their responses.</p>
+
+ <p>These Internet sites have some GNU programs available for
+ anonymous FTP: <code>louie.udel.edu</code>,
+ <code>nic.nyser.net</code>, <code>bu-it.bu.edu</code>,
+ <code>uunet.uu.net</code>, <code>spam.istc.sri.com</code>, and
+ <code>simtel20.arpa</code> (under PD:<Unix.GNU>).</p>
+
+ <p>Information on how to uucp some GNU programs is available via
+ electronic mail from: <code>address@hidden</code>,
+ <code>ihnp4!hutch!barber</code>, <code>hqda-ai!merlin</code>.
+ Also, you can ask:
+ <code>hao!scicom!qetzal!upba!ugn!nepa!denny</code> or else from:
+ <code>address@hidden</code>.</p>
+
+ <p>Ohio State also uucps GNU programs. They post their
+ instructions monthly to newsgroup <code>comp.sources.d</code> on
+ Usenet. Current details from Karl Kleinpaste
+ <code>address@hidden</code> or
+ <code>address@hidden</code> or
+ <code>...!cbosgd!osu-cis!karl</code>; or Bob Sutterfield
+ (substitute bob for karl in the above addresses).</p>
+
+ <p>Information on obtaining floppy disks of GNU Emacs for the
+ AT&T Unix PC (aka 3B1 or PC7300) is available via electronic
+ mail from: <code>address@hidden</code>.</p>
+
+ <h1><a name="SEC16" href="bull4.html#TOC16" id="SEC16">Thank
+ GNUs</a></h1>
+
+ <p>Thanks to all those mentioned in GNU Flashes.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, and its
+ head, <b>Professor Dertouzos</b>. The LCS has provided FSF with
+ the loan of a Microvax for program development.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory for
+ invaluable assistance of many kinds.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to <b>Nobuyuki Hikichi</b> of Software Research
+ Associates, Tokyo, for porting GCC to the SONY NEWS machine.
+ Thanks also for the $10,000 they contributed.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to NeXT, Inc., for their improvements to the GNU
+ Assembler and the Gnu DeBugger.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to <b>Micheal Tiemann</b> of MCC for extending GCC and
+ GDB to handle C<code>++</code> and for porting GCC to the 32000
+ with some contributions from <b>Jan Stein</b> of the Chalmers
+ Computer Club.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to <b>Ted Lemon</b> who wrote parts of the RTL reader
+ and printer for GCC.</p>
+
+ <p>For porting GCC, thanks to <b>Charles LaBrec</b> (Integrated
+ Solutions 68020 system); to <b>Greg Satz</b>(HPUX); to <b>David
+ Kashtan</b> (VMS).</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to <b>David S. Hayes</b> for enhancing GNU diff.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to <b>Dan LaLiberte</b> for spearheading the GNU Emacs
+ Lisp Programmers Manual, and to <b>Bill Lewis</b> and <b>Tom
+ Scott</b> who have been working on putting it all together.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to <b>Wolfgang Rupprecht</b> for providing floating
+ point support for GNU Emacs.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to <b>Torbjorn Granlund</b> for fast implementations of
+ <code>split</code>, <code>wc</code>, <code>cmp</code>,
+ <code>cat</code> and <code>cp</code>.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to all those who have contributed ports and extensions,
+ as well as those who have contributed other source code,
+ documentation, and good bug reports.</p>
+
+ <p>Thanks to those who sent money and offered help. Thanks also
+ to those who support us by ordering Emacs manuals and
+ distribution tapes.</p>
+
+ <p>The creation of this bulletin is our way of thanking all who
+ have expressed interest in what we are doing.</p>
+ <pre>
</pre>
+ <hr />
+ <pre>
+
+
-</P>
-<PRE>
+</pre>
+ <pre>
-------
| |
Free Software Foundation, Inc. | stamp |
@@ -1242,38 +995,32 @@
Cambridge, MA 02139 | here |
| |
-------
-</PRE>
+</pre>
+ <hr />
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>This document was generated on 7 May 1998 using the <a href=
+ "http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/dis/texi2html/";>texi2html</a> translator
+ version 1.52.</p>
+ <hr />
+ Return to <a href="/home.html">GNU's home page</a>.
+
+ <p>Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to
+ <a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>. There are
+ also <a href="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to contact</a>
+ the FSF.</p>
+
+ <p>Please send comments on these web pages to <a href=
+ "mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>,
+ send other questions to <a href=
+ "mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.</p>
+
+ <p>Copyright (C) 1988 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin
+ St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA</p>
+
+ <p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
+ permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.</p>
+ <hr />
+</body>
+</html>
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-<P><HR><P>
-This document was generated on 7 May 1998 using the
-<A HREF="http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/dis/texi2html/";>texi2html</A>
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-
-<HR>
-
-Return to <A HREF="/home.html">GNU's home page</A>.
-<P>
-
-Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to
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-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>.
-There are also <A HREF="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to
-contact</A> the FSF.
-<P>
-
-Please send comments on these web pages to
-
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>,
-send other questions to
-<A HREF="mailto:address@hidden";><EM>address@hidden</EM></A>.
-<P>
-Copyright (C) 1988 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
-51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA
-<P>
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