FSF-FUNDING(7) GNU FSF-FUNDING(7)
NAME
fsf-funding - Funding Free Software
DESCRIPTION
Funding Free Software
If you want to have more free software a few years from now, it makes
sense for you to help encourage people to contribute funds for its
development. The most effective approach known is to encourage
commercial redistributors to donate.
Users of free software systems can boost the pace of development by
encouraging for-a-fee distributors to donate part of their selling price
to free software developers---the Free Software Foundation, and others.
The way to convince distributors to do this is to demand it and expect it
from them. So when you compare distributors, judge them partly by how
much they give to free software development. Show distributors they must
compete to be the one who gives the most.
To make this approach work, you must insist on numbers that you can
compare, such as, "We will donate ten dollars to the Frobnitz project for
each disk sold." Don't be satisfied with a vague promise, such as "A
portion of the profits are donated," since it doesn't give a basis for
comparison.
Even a precise fraction "of the profits from this disk" is not very
meaningful, since creative accounting and unrelated business decisions
can greatly alter what fraction of the sales price counts as profit. If
the price you pay is $50, ten percent of the profit is probably less than
a dollar; it might be a few cents, or nothing at all.
Some redistributors do development work themselves. This is useful too;
but to keep everyone honest, you need to inquire how much they do, and
what kind. Some kinds of development make much more long-term difference
than others. For example, maintaining a separate version of a program
contributes very little; maintaining the standard version of a program
for the whole community contributes much. Easy new ports contribute
little, since someone else would surely do them; difficult ports such as
adding a new CPU to the GNU Compiler Collection contribute more; major
new features or packages contribute the most.
By establishing the idea that supporting further development is "the
proper thing to do" when distributing free software for a fee, we can
assure a steady flow of resources into making more free software.
SEE ALSO
gpl(7), gfdl(7).
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Verbatim copying and
redistribution of this section is permitted without royalty; alteration
is not permitted.
gcc-15.3.0 2026-06-12 FSF-FUNDING(7)
gcc15 15.3.0 - Generated Sat Oct 10 08:25:13 CDT 2026