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2 | Copyright 1988-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc. | |
3 | This is part of the GCC manual. | |
4 | For copying conditions, see the copyright.rst file. | |
5 | ||
6 | Funding Free Software | |
7 | ===================== | |
8 | ||
9 | If you want to have more free software a few years from now, it makes | |
10 | sense for you to help encourage people to contribute funds for its | |
11 | development. The most effective approach known is to encourage | |
12 | commercial redistributors to donate. | |
13 | ||
14 | Users of free software systems can boost the pace of development by | |
15 | encouraging for-a-fee distributors to donate part of their selling price | |
16 | to free software developers-the Free Software Foundation, and others. | |
17 | ||
18 | The way to convince distributors to do this is to demand it and expect | |
19 | it from them. So when you compare distributors, judge them partly by | |
20 | how much they give to free software development. Show distributors | |
21 | they must compete to be the one who gives the most. | |
22 | ||
23 | To make this approach work, you must insist on numbers that you can | |
24 | compare, such as, 'We will donate ten dollars to the Frobnitz project | |
25 | for each disk sold.' Don't be satisfied with a vague promise, such as | |
26 | 'A portion of the profits are donated,' since it doesn't give a basis | |
27 | for comparison. | |
28 | ||
29 | Even a precise fraction 'of the profits from this disk' is not very | |
30 | meaningful, since creative accounting and unrelated business decisions | |
31 | can greatly alter what fraction of the sales price counts as profit. | |
32 | If the price you pay is $50, ten percent of the profit is probably | |
33 | less than a dollar; it might be a few cents, or nothing at all. | |
34 | ||
35 | Some redistributors do development work themselves. This is useful too; | |
36 | but to keep everyone honest, you need to inquire how much they do, and | |
37 | what kind. Some kinds of development make much more long-term | |
38 | difference than others. For example, maintaining a separate version of | |
39 | a program contributes very little; maintaining the standard version of a | |
40 | program for the whole community contributes much. Easy new ports | |
41 | contribute little, since someone else would surely do them; difficult | |
42 | ports such as adding a new CPU to the GNU Compiler Collection contribute more; | |
43 | major new features or packages contribute the most. | |
44 | ||
45 | By establishing the idea that supporting further development is 'the | |
46 | proper thing to do' when distributing free software for a fee, we can | |
47 | assure a steady flow of resources into making more free software. |