Bonum Certa Men Certa

Who is Richard Stallman?

Published on April 5, 2021. Reproduced with permission. Licence: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 4.0). Original here.

Things like freedom and the expansion of knowledge are beyond success, beyond the personal. Personal success is not wrong, but it is limited in importance, and once you have enough of it, it is a shame to keep striving for that instead of for truth, beauty, or justice.
—Richard Stallman in Free Software as a Social Movement (Archived), December 18, 2005.



A closeup photo of Richard Stallman speaking.

Richard Stallman



Richard Matthew Stallman, also known as RMS in the free software community, was born in New York in 1953. He is a physicist, computer scientist, philosopher, and a passionate champion for software freedom. He is the founder and leader of the Free Software Movement (often mistakenly referred to as “open source.”[1])



In 1971, while still a student at Harvard, he started working as a programmer at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab (currently, CSAIL.) In 1983, he launched the GNU Project[2] with the goal of building a free software operating system (known today as GNU/Linux.) Soon after that, in January 1984, Stallman quit his job at MIT so that the institution could not claim any rights on his work on GNU (The GNU Project - Archived):



In January 1984 I quit my job at MIT and began writing GNU software. Leaving MIT was necessary so that MIT would not be able to interfere with distributing GNU as free software. If I had remained on the staff, MIT could have claimed to own the work, and could have imposed their own distribution terms, or even turned the work into a proprietary software package. I had no intention of doing a large amount of work only to see it become useless for its intended purpose: creating a new software-sharing community.


The Free Software Movement was born.



In 1985 Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation to raise funds and provide infrastructure for the development of GNU. The organization was conceived as a non-profit, with him as the president ad honorem (unpaid.)



Around 1991, Stallman was assigned an office at the MIT AI Lab with an unpaid position as a visiting scientist.



The Importance of GNU #gnu



People may have never heard about GNU, but we are using it everyday. Most web servers and mail servers as well as many database servers use GNU. Whenever we check our email or perform a search in the Internet,we are using GNU. GNU is critical software that makes the Internetpossible. It's somewhat like with cars. Many people own cars and use them daily, but they don't see the assembly plant. Likewise, many people use programs and web services built upon GNU without noticing what it is.



Richard Stallman's work in the computing field #rms-work



Stallman's contributions as a programmer are many. He personally wrote several key components that were essential for the development of the GNU operating system, such as the GNU Debugger (GDB)[9], the GCC[10], and the extensible editor EMACS.[11] For the development of GCC and EMACS he won the ACM Software System Award and the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, respectively.



For pioneering work in the development of the extensible editor EMACS (Editing Macros). (1990)



GCC is a cornerstone of the free (libre) software community. It enabled important software like the GNU/Linux operating system and the Mozilla browser, and has supported hundreds of other software systems that collectively form the foundation of the modern Internet. (2015)



ACM Awards (Archived)



In 1990 Stallman was also awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the “Genius Grant.” (Archived)



In 2013 Stallman was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame under the category of innovators. (Archived)



Richard Stallman has received many other honors and awards during his long career, including a number of honorary doctorates from universities around the world.



Stallman introduced the concept of copyleft[12] and, based on that notion, he wrote the innovative GNU General Public License[13] that guarantees end users the freedom to run, study, share, and modify software. He wrote other licenses that grant the same freedoms for different kinds of works. Today, these licenses are widely used to release free software programs, documentation, and creative works. Wikipedia, for example, was launched under the GNU Free Documentation License.[14]



Richard Stallman's influence beyond computing #beyond



Stallman's ideas about software freedom soon expanded beyond computers into the areas of knowledge and culture. The ethical standards that he set for software inspired many of the leaders and participants in the Free Knowledge and Free Culture movements that came later. Wikipedia and Creative Commons, two of the most well-known manifestations of these movements, drew heavily upon the core concepts of freedom promoted by Richard Stallman.



Wikipedia #wikipedia



Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia, concluded that it was of paramount importance to base their project on the four essential software freedoms[15] as defined by Stallman. As stated by Wales (emphasis added):



What is free knowledge? What is a free encyclopedia? The essence is something that anyone who understands free software can immediately grasp. A free encylopedia, or any other free knowledge, can be freely read, without getting permission from anyone. Free knowledge can be freely shared with others. Free knowledge can be adapted to your own needs. And your adapted versions can be freely shared with others.

Jimmy Wales, 2004. (Free Knowledge requires Free Software and Free File Formats) (Archived)



A document first drafted by Richard Stallman in 1998 became an inspiration for Wikipedia:



[...] Richard Stallman’s 1999 article, “The Universal Encyclopedia and Free Learning Resource,” is one of the founding documents of the Wikipedia movement [...]. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “every revolution begins in one man’s mind.” The revolution that uses the technology of networked communication to override the legal and economic barriers that prevent human minds from learning began in Mr. Stallman’s mind.

Eben Moglen, 2009. (Comment in The New York Times) (Archived)



On March 26, 1999, Richard Stallman gave a speech at the SIGCSE 30th Technical Symposium in New Orleans in which he talked about free software and expressed ideas that hinted at the future Creative Commons and Wikipedia. He explicitly called for the development of a Free Universal Encyclopedia as a learning resource available to everyone at no charge. He spoke about the encyclopedia again in an interview after the speech (at 1:25 in the video.)





Creative Commons #creative-commons



Stallman's GNU licenses were an inspiration for the Creative Commons licenses.



We stole the basic idea from the Free Software Foundation—give away free copyright licenses. [...] The idea (again, stolen from the FSF) was to produce copyright licenses that artists, authors, educators, and researchers could use to announce to the world the freedoms that they want their creative work to carry.



Creative Commons took its idea—give away free copyright licenses—from the Free Software Movement. But the problem we aimed to solve was somewhat different.



Lawrence Lessig, October 2005. (The Story) (Archived) (How it All Began) (Archived)



Apart from CC0, which is a tool for releasing materials into the public domain, today there are six different Creative Commons licenses, but only two of them are free according to the principles of free software: CC-BY and CC-BY-SA; the latter is also a copyleft license.



Personality #personality



Inquisitive Mind #inquisitive



Stallman's approach in all fields of life is philosophical and scientific, inclined to the inquisitive analysis of ideas and phenomena in search of evidence. For a collection of philosophical articles on the implications of software and computing in society, see Free Sofware, Free Society, Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman.



Fixation with Language #language



He has a keen interest in linguistics, and pays scrupulous attention to the correct use of words.[3] He coins new words[4] and keeps an anti-glossary[5] for words and expressions he avoids. He invents puns and jokes in several languages, even in those he doesn't speak.



Playfulness #humor



For Stallman, an offspring of the hacker culture, [6] playfulness and humor are important. He frequently shares his inclination to perceive the funny aspect of situations in life, and won't stop at the prospect of joking even if it involves mocking himself (e.g., his declaration I am a saint in the Church of Emacs.) A variety of jokes, funny poetry, song parodies and cartoons can be found in the humor section of his website.[7] A dedicated directory in the website of the GNU Project hosts a number of jokes by third parties.[8]



Dancing is another of Stallman's interests, which he did professionally as a young man. Last time he was seen dancing was in 2007, dancing at MIT with a group of students. (mp4).



Biography #biography



A biography by Sam Williams, Free As In Freedom 2.0: Richard Stallman and the Free Software Revolution, which was revised by Richard Stallman, is an invaluable source of information for those who would like to get a better picture of Stallman's personality and background. It narrates Stallman's early years, depicting his unique personality with amusing stories and anecdotes, including statements by his mother, references to a girlfriend, Stallman as a child at school, his adventures and work as a young hacker at the AI Lab, and more.



Speeches #speeches



Numerous videos and audio recordings of Stallman's speeches around the world on several topics are available at audio-video.gnu.org.



Resignation #resignation



Richard Stallman continues to be the head of the GNU Project (the “Chief GNUisance”, in the jargon of the community) to this day. However, in September 2019, he resigned from both MIT and the FSF. Why did he resign?




References and Notes



  1. Open Source Misses the Point


  2. Initial announcement of the GNU Project.


  3. The GNU Project's list of Words to Avoid (or Use with Care).


  4. Richard Stallman's glossary of new words.


  5. Richard Stallman's anti-glossary.


  6. Hacker culture, Wikipedia.


  7. Humor section of Richard Stallman's website.


  8. Fun section of the GNU Project's website.


  9. GNU Debugger (GDB)


  10. GCC


  11. EMACS


  12. What is Copyleft?
  13. GNU General Public License.


  14. GNU Free Documentation License.


  15. Free software definition.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
This Saturday It's Gonna be 3.5 Years* Since Russia Invaded Ukraine. No Microsoft Protests Against Microsoft Having Provided Russia With Services.
Companies do not have consistent policies and enforcement of "corporate values" is somewhat of an egg salad
Slopwatch: Sites Gone Rogue, Google Promoting Lies, and DDoS Attacks by Plagiarism Giants
Charlatans and frauds engage in a war against artistic industries, mislabeling plagiarism as "AI"
 
Soon It'll be Autumn, Time to Repair Things
Where they don't charge an arm and a leg
Doing Our Best to Cover Software Patents When the Mainstream Media Does Not
Even the FSF has its limits
Gemini Links 23/08/2025: August Questions and Network Solutions
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 22, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 22, 2025
Microsoft Has Issues in Guyana
It's not just Guyana
About 25% of the "Linux" News/Results in Google News Today Are LLM Slop, Almost 20% From the Same Rogue Operators of Slopfarms
Google, which tries to market itself as an LLM giant, apparently fails to understand what's wrong with it
Harassing People on Holiday
There are "no-go areas"; but that assumes all laws firms have ethical standards
The Great, Undeniable Value of Paper Trail, Not Purely Digital Systems
Suppose you have nothing but bits on someone else's computer and "word of mouth"...
The Company Behind Ars Technica, Reddit and Wired Caught Publishing LLM Slop (It Also Admits It Now)
Condé Nast busted
Links 22/08/2025: Lagrange 1.18.8, Wired Magazine and Business Insider Caught Resorting to LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 22/08/2025: Cisco Layoffs, LA Times Says "AI Hype is Fading Fast"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/08/2025: K for Kentucky and Caddy Versus LLM Slopbots
Links for the day
The "End Software Patents" Initiative of the FSF Explains "WHY [to] ABOLISH SOFTWARE PATENTS"
We hope to cover patent-related issues more and more as the big anniversary of the FSF approaches
Freenode Sniffing
The grown-ups left the building
The Only Thing Worse Than Misinformation is Misinformation Sold to Everyone as "Intelligence"
Misplaced trust is worse than none at all
The Register MS Now Openly Admits LLM Hype Does Damage, But It's Also Being Paid to Participate in the LLM Hype (With Paid 'Articles' and 'Webcasts' for Paying Advertisers)
The Register MS gets paid to do this
End of the Smartphone Era? No.
Maybe the media should focus on producing accurate, factual news
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 21, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 21, 2025
Enshittification of Airports, Airlines, and Airplanes
If people are willing to tolerate standard declines and enshittification (nowadays sold as "pivot to AI" or "replaced by AI" or "AI layoffs") they will pay for it some other way
Latest Is Not Greatest: The Case of "Foldable" Tech
don't be shamed into abandoning old things just because the "fashion industry" of Apple and Samsung tells you to
Airlines and Their Tricks That Only Work in the 'Digital Age'
People sceptical of the direction technology has taken are not "Luddites"
Open Source Initiative (OSI), Which Became a Propaganda Front of Microsoft and "Hey Hi" (Hype, Misnomer), Wants You to Forget These Scandals
A lot of these issues won't be set aside until there's a resolution
The Culture of Overnight Coding
An industry-wise push-back is needed
Windows Down to New Lows in Guinea Bissau and Many Countries Around It
If Android is accounted for, Windows is down to about 10%
Gemini Links 21/08/2025: Modern Dating, Debian 13, and Apache
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Had About 10 Waves of Mass Layoffs So Far This Year (Not Two as Mainstream Media and Slopfarms Endlessly Claim)
Notice how the MSM (Mainstream Media) never mentions the debt of Microsoft. It is a conscious, deliberate decision.
Links 21/08/2025: Covid Cases on the Rise, "Social Media Trolls", Russia's Attacks Intensify
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/08/2025: The Attraction of Back Alleys, Initramfs, and BSD ISPs
Links for the day
Links 21/08/2025: Stephanie Shirley Dies and "Groklaw Domain Hijacked?"
Links for the day
Search in 2025 (Age of DDoS Attacks Under the Guise of "AI" "Innovation")
One common concern when things go "live" is that any random bot out there can execute queries, pumping up RAM and CPU usage, as happened when we used MediaWiki and WordPress
Using Slop for Images Does Not Make Your Site Look Advanced or Witty, It Just Makes Your Whole Work Look Like Presumed Plagiarism
Lazy slobs and Serial Sloppers use the guise/excuse of "AI" to plagiarise and spam the Web
Financing of the "Hey Hi" (AI) Bubble by Those Who Profit From Planetary Destruction (Global Warming)
It's about personal gain, too
Richard Stallman Will Speak in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress
it's good to see that the FSF pays considerable respect to it founder, who is moreover invited to speak at events
(At Least) Second Wave of Mass Layoffs in Microsoft This Month
This is not the first time this month that Microsoft has mass layoffs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 20, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 20, 2025