The GNUPIER project

Table of Contents

• About the GNUPIER project
• Why engage in this effort?
• How can we reach our goals?

About the GNUPIER project

GNUPIER stands for: GNU Portal Infrastructure Effort/Repository. GNUPIER is an effort to assemble a collection of software that will enable diverse www (world wide web) services. A goal is to always attract developer teams that will enrich, even more, the web server capabilities of GNU/Linux systems (or others). To obtain more information about free software and the GNU project, please visit: www.gnu.org.

The GNUPIER project will try to accumulate software for a free web services infrastructure. With such a free infrastructure, many benefits will follow. For example, it will be easier for an individual or an organization, from anywhere in the world, to become a web services provider. Consequently, we will have an enriched world wide web. Since the web promises, among some of its utopias, the possibilities of a world more equal, enlightening, and efficient; then the effect of the project, small as it may be, will be a step forward.

GNUPIER will be the contribution of many software development teams. Donations to the repository will be used, whenever possible, to offer a diverse services portal for the public. The GNUPIER portal will be a motivation to keep us going ahead toward our ideal.

In this project, a portal means a group of services offered through the web. A portal is an entry point to the web for the public or for specific interests audiences. Whenever possible, the GNUPIER portal services (not the software in the repository) will be educational and nonprofit inclined. Our portal's predominant educative orientation is due to the nature of the GNU project; but, for example, pure entertainment games are welcome. Among the first web services that we want to offer are:

• A web searching engine
• A web directory (noncommercial)
• News summaries

Since this is a web (and so an information sharing) project, then individuals (or groups) that can contribute with information (maps, books, statistics, anything), which may be offered under the terms of the GNU free documentation license, will be very important to the success of the project. We will need volunteers with writing skills that can devote some of their hours to the news summaries task. We cannot know if the news summary service is going to be possible or not, but it is worth a try.

Why engage in this effort?

Many web services are already available gratis. Why then is a free web services infrastructure important? It's because a free infrastructure has many benefits associated with free software. Some benefits, in this project, are:

• We do not cede our freedom to the big monopolies, which are very interested in dominating the web
• More small companies can be present in the www
• We favor something that is everybody's patrimony, rather than something that represents the patrimony of few
• We could know exactly what is doing the remote software we are using
• Many commercial web sites that offer services gratis collect information about the people who access their sites--even information you don't realize they can get. They cooperate to track your browsing movements from site to site, so that the sites can collate what they learn about you. They may then sell the information to companies that accumulate information about people, or use it themselves in ways you would not like.

  GNUPIER will not ask you for any personal information, and will not participate in the cross-site tracking schemes. We won't ask who you are, we won't know who you are, and we can't tell anyone who you are.

In short, free software is our right. Those were just some examples of benefits from free software. To get more information, please visit: www.gnu.org.

It's very usual to make profit in the web by selling advertising banners. No advertising is going to be sold in our portal, instead, a space in each page will be dedicated to the promotion of nonprofit causes that we believe in. Usually, commercial brands are engaged trying to get more power over people, through publicity. Our portal will be a natural opposite reaction (an opposite message): the pages in our portal will attract many eyes, but that "advertising" potential will be used to promote diverse, for the public, efforts. Anyway, since the repository is free software, it can be used by different entities for any goal, be it either for-profit (please be sure to understand the GNU GPL) or not-for-profit.

How can we reach our goals?

Free software and Internet collaboration have already achieved many impressive results. Our project wants to use the proved Internet collaboration model to attain its goals. It is possible that many years will pass before we can conquer our objectives. That is something natural for Internet collaboration efforts, which do not have much money for going after their set goals.

There are many possibilities to contribute to the project, developing either specialized or general services. Each contribution is worth much, it could be a small on-line game, or maybe a group of many related services (subportal). Please consider becoming a part of this project. Individuals from everywhere in the world are invited to form development teams to help to the cause. Every talented individual can help; we need writers, translators, programmers, talents in graphics, among others. Every time that a person joins this effort, we will get a bit closer to our utopia of a web ever more free, for both users and providers of services. Do not hesitate to let us know if you want to help, or if you have comments about the project.

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Copyright (C) 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA

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Updated: $Date: 2001/07/03 22:45:54 $ $Author: paulv $