Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)

# Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is an umbrella term encompassing both the free software movement (led by [[Richard Stallman]] and the [[Free Software Foundation (FSF)]]) and the [[Open Source]] movement (promoted by the [[Open Source Initiative (OSI)]]). The term bridges ideological differences between the two camps while describing software that grants users freedom to run, study, modify, and distribute the code. The variant FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) explicitly uses "libre" to clarify that "free" means freedom, not price; addressing the English ambiguity that Stallman summarizes as "free as in speech, not free as in beer." FOSS powers critical infrastructure worldwide, from [[Linux]] servers to Firefox browsers to programming languages like Python. ## The Four Freedoms Both movements agree on these fundamental freedoms (defined by the FSF): - **Freedom 0**: Run the program for any purpose - **Freedom 1**: Study how the program works and modify it - **Freedom 2**: Redistribute copies to help others - **Freedom 3**: Distribute copies of your modified versions ## Free Software vs Open Source | Aspect | Free Software | Open Source | |--------|---------------|-------------| | Focus | Ethical freedoms | Practical benefits | | Origin | Richard Stallman (1983) | OSI (1998) | | Philosophy | Users' rights are paramount | Better development model | | Terminology | "Free as in freedom" | Business-friendly language | ## Common FOSS Projects - **Operating Systems**: Linux, FreeBSD, Android (AOSP) - **Web**: Firefox, Chromium, Apache, Nginx - **Languages**: Python, Rust, GCC, LLVM - **Databases**: PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite - **Tools**: Git, VS Code, LibreOffice ## References - https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html - https://opensource.org - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software ## Related - [[Open Source]] - [[Richard Stallman]] - [[Free Software Foundation (FSF)]] - [[Open Source Initiative (OSI)]] - [[GNU is not Unix (GNU)]] - [[Linux]] - [[Git]]