GNU is an operating system which is100% free software. It was launched in 1983 by Richard Stallman (rms)and has been developed by many people working together for the sake offreedom of all software users to control their computing. Technically,GNU is generally like Unix. But unlike Unix, GNU gives its usersfreedom.
The GNU system contains all of the official GNU softwarepackages (which are listed below), and also includes non-GNU freesoftware, notably TeX and the X Window System. Also, the GNU system isnot a single static set of programs; users and distributors may selectdifferent packages according to their needs and desires. The result isstill a variant of the GNU system.
If you're looking for a whole system to install, see our list of GNU/Linux distributions whichare entirely free software.
To look for individual free software packages, both GNU and non-GNU,please see the Free SoftwareDirectory: a categorized, searchable database of free software. TheDirectory is actively maintained by the Free Software Foundation and includeslinks to program home pages where available, as well as entries for all GNU packages. Anotherlist of all GNU packages is below. Free software documentation links are listedseparately.
Finally, we have a short list of free software replacements for proprietary softwarerunning on various proprietary systems.
We have also published a list of recommended educational software.
How to get GNU software
Download distributions
If you're looking for a whole system toinstall, see our list ofGNU/Linux distributions which are entirely free software.
GNU software is available by several different methods:
- Download a wholly freeGNU/Linux distribution.
- Get a copy from a friend.
- Buy a computer with a wholly free GNU/Linux system preinstalledfrom one of the companies thatoffers this.
- Download individual packages from the webor via FTP: we provide source code for all GNU software as free software, and free of charge.(Please also make a donation to the FSFif you can, to help support the development of more free software.)
- Use the GNU Guix functionalpackage manager to install and manage GNU package releases.
- Use the GNU GSRC collection toeasily install the latest GNU package releases on their own, withoutconflicting with any system versions.
- Use theGNUPPA or GNUstepPPA (Personal Package Archive) on Trisquel, gNewSense, or relateddistros to get the latest releases suitably packaged.