These pages are in development and do not reflect the position of the GNU project.

What is free software?

When we talk about free software, we mean free as in freedom, not as in zero price. With free software, you can

• run the software for any purpose,
• study it and adapt it to your needs,
• copy it and redistribute it so you can help friends and other people,
• share your changes with the public so people can use them.

A programmer who is developing software is “coding” the software. The code is called “source code.” This code is later converted to “binary” code, which can be read by the computer but not by humans. If software is free, the source code must be available for you to study, change and redistribute.

Example of a program's source code:

     float
     distance (p0, p1)
          struct point p0, p1;
     {
       float xdist = p1.x - p0.x;
       float ydist = p1.y - p0.y;
       return sqrt (xdist * xdist + ydist * ydist);
     }

Example of a program in executable form:

     1314258944      -232267772      -231844864      1634862
     1411907592      -231844736      2159150         1420296208
     -234880989      -234879837      -234879966      -232295424
     1644167167      -3214848        1090581031      1962942495
     572518958       -803143692      1314803317