Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman

Summary

Essays defining free software through four freedoms, explaining copyleft and the GPL, and arguing that software freedom is an ethical issue, not just a practical one.

Why it’s useful here

The ethical counterpart to Raymond. Copyleft is a legal tool for keeping a commons from being enclosed, and it informs the choice of code license for this repo.

Key ideas

• Four freedoms: run, study/modify, redistribute, distribute modified versions
• Copyleft as commons protection

Related

• raymond-1999-cathedral-and-the-bazaar.md