WHAT THIS IS

The GNU Manifesto, written by Richard Stallman in 1985, the document
that explained why the GNU operating system was going to be written
and given away. The code that followed it survives in thousands of
copies. This is the reason.

WHERE IT CAME FROM

gnu-manifesto.txt is a plain-text rendering of the page
https://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html as fetched on 2026-08-29 by
fossarchives.com. The words are the Free Software Foundation's
current text of the Manifesto, including its own later footnotes.
Formatting was reduced to plain text; nothing was rewritten.

The Manifesto first appeared in print in Dr. Dobb's Journal,
March 1985. A scan of that issue is held by the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/1985-03-dr-dobbs-journal

WHY YOU MAY COPY IT

The document carries its own permission, reproduced in full at the
end of gnu-manifesto.txt: "Permission is granted to anyone to make or
distribute verbatim copies of this document, in any medium, provided
that the copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, and
that the distributor grants the recipient permission for further
redistribution as permitted by this notice." Keep the notice with the
text and you may pass this on.

HOW TO CHECK IT IN 2050

The file SHA256SUMS lists the SHA-256 hash of gnu-manifesto.txt.
On most systems:   sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS
If the hash matches, you hold the same bytes this bundle held when it
was made. If SHA-256 is no longer trusted by the time you read this,
compare the text against another independent copy; several are
listed at fossarchives.com, and there will be more.

WHO ELSE HOLDS IT

Independent copies known to fossarchives.com when this bundle was
made are listed on the site. If you keep this, you are one more.
Nothing is required of you. Do not delete it.

fossarchives.com, 2026-08-29