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Research draft

free software

vr.tr.free-software · INF.KNW

Let an agent explain free software and its four freedoms and licences, distinguish it from open-source and freeware, describe major projects and communities, and support choosing and complying with licences.

Thing Registry Information and virtual systems

Research draft, second pass

A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.

written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify

Researched by: Claude

Purpose and description

Let an agent explain free software and its four freedoms and licences, distinguish it from open-source and freeware, describe major projects and communities, and support choosing and complying with licences.

Software distributed under licences that grant users the freedom to run, study, modify and redistribute it, with access to source code, as defined by the free software movement and embodied in licences such as the GNU General Public License, and produced by projects from the GNU system and desktop environments such as KDE to libraries such as PCRE2, package archives such as ELPA, and educational robots such as Escornabot; free software overlaps with open-source software but emphasises user freedom as an ethical principle.

What it is for: Software granting users freedom to use, study, modify and share.

It can be explain freedoms and licences; distinguish related terms; describe projects; support licence compliance.

Distinguishing features

Four freedoms

Source availability

Copyleft option

Ethical framing

What it looks like

Not physical; software and licences.

How it is recognised

Four freedoms with source code

Copyleft and permissive licences

Freeware is free of charge but not necessarily free to modify; open source emphasises development method

Related models

is a kind of - category

open-source software

is a kind of - category

freely redistributable software

is related to - defects fixed collaboratively

software bug

is related to - platforms running free software

microcomputer

In practice

Families and kinds

copyleft free software such as GNU projects

permissively licensed free software

free desktop environments such as KDE

free software libraries and tools

free software in education and hardware projects

Standards and regulation

Free software licences and their definitions

Copyright law underlying licensing

Public sector open source policies

Failure modes and hazards

Licence non-compliance

Confusing free software with freeware

Unmaintained projects

Also called

EscornabotEscornabot OgakiKDE GearGNU ELPA packageNonGNU ELPA packagePerl Compatible Regular Expressions 2GNU packageGNU Emacs packageSkyTempleGNU toolchainUnxUtilsBiopragmatics StackGNU wombformerly proprietary softwareNightscout ProjectGNOME Utilitiesopen science toolApache Cassandrafree formatJava Desktop Integration Components

Where this came from

wikidata · CC0 1.0

Source repository Registry entry point

Drafted structure

Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.

Understand What free software is.

Computing.

Freedoms

The four freedoms.

Freedoms

Freedoms.

  1. What are the four freedoms, and how do they define free software according to the free software movement? definition
  2. Is free software, open source or freeware meant? boundary

Licences

Licences.

Licences

Licences.

  1. How do copyleft and permissive licences such as the GPL, MIT and Apache licences differ? definition
  2. Which entry fits a specific licence? action
Use Using and contributing.

Practice.

Choose

Choosing free software.

Choose

Choosing.

  1. Which free software projects meet this need, and how are they evaluated for maintenance and security? action
  2. Which entry fits a specific project? action

Contribute

Contributing.

Contribute

Contributing.

  1. How can someone contribute to free software projects and communities? action
  2. Which entry fits open source development? action
Comply Licensing and compliance.

Law.

Compliance

Compliance.

Compliance

Compliance.

  1. What obligations arise when distributing or modifying free software, in general terms? provenance
  2. Is legal advice needed from a professional? boundary

Business

Business and policy.

Business

Business.

  1. How do businesses and governments use free software, and what debates exist, with positions attributed? provenance
  2. Is the presentation neutral? boundary
Learn History and philosophy.

Education.

History

History.

History

History.

  1. How did the free software movement and the GNU project develop, and how did open source emerge? provenance
  2. Which references are standard? provenance

Philosophy

Philosophy and debates.

Philosophy

Philosophy.

  1. What ethical and practical arguments surround free software, with positions attributed? provenance
  2. Which misconceptions arise? provenance

What the second pass must settle

  • Should each licence be a separate entry?
  • How should project repositories be linked?
  • How should compliance guidance be linked?
Draft as JSON