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+1. Avoiding Ruinous Compromises {#avoiding-ruinous-compromises .chapter}
+===============================
+
+> On September 27, 1983, I announced a plan to create a completely free
+> operating system called GNU—for “GNU’s Not Unix.” To mark the 25th
+> anniversary of the GNU system, I wrote this article to show how our
+> community could avoid ruinous compromises. In addition to avoiding
+> such compromises, there are many ways you can help GNU and free
+> software. One basic way is to join the Free Software Foundation as an
+> Associate Member.[(1)](#FOOT1)
+
+The free software movement aims for a social change: to make all
+software free[(2)](#FOOT2) so that all software users are free and can
+be part of a community of cooperation. Every nonfree program gives its
+developer unjust power over the users. Our goal is to put an end to that
+injustice.
+
+The road to freedom is a long road.[(3)](#FOOT3) It will take many steps
+and many years to reach a world in which it is normal for software users
+to have freedom. Some of these steps are hard, and require sacrifice.
+Some of them become easier if we make compromises with people that have
+different goals.
+
+Thus, the Free Software Foundation makes compromises—even major ones.
+For instance, we made compromises in the patent provisions of version 3
+of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) so that major companies
+would contribute to and distribute GPLv3-covered software and thus bring
+some patents under the effect of these provisions.
+
+@firstcopyingnotice{{@footnoterule A similar point in a different area
+of life: “‘Nudge’ Is Not Enough, It’s True. But We Already Knew That”
+(Jonathan Rowson, 19 July 2011, [http://guardian.co.\
+uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/19/nudge-is-not-enough-behaviour-change](http://guardian.co.%3Cbr%3Euk/commentisfree/2011/jul/19/nudge-is-not-enough-behaviour-change))
+says that “changes in attitudes and perspectives” are needed as well as
+“nudges.” @medskip @footnoterule @smallskip Copyright © 2008, 2009,
+2014, 2015 Richard Stallman\
+ {This essay was originally published on <http://gnu.org>, in 2008. This
+version is part of @fsfsthreecite}
+
+The Lesser GPL’s purpose is a compromise: we use it on certain chosen
+free libraries to permit their use in nonfree programs because we think
+that legally prohibiting this would only drive developers to proprietary
+libraries instead. We accept and install code in GNU programs to make
+them work together with common nonfree programs, and we document and
+publicize this in ways that encourage users of the latter to install the
+former, but not vice versa. We support specific campaigns we agree with,
+even when we don’t fully agree with the groups behind them.
+
+But we reject certain compromises even though many others in our
+community are willing to make them. For instance, we endorse only the
+GNU/Linux distributions that have policies not to include nonfree
+software or lead users to install it.[(4)](#FOOT4) To endorse nonfree
+distributions would be a ruinous compromise.
+
+Compromises are ruinous if they would work against our aims in the long
+term. That can occur either at the level of ideas or at the level of
+actions.
+
+At the level of ideas, ruinous compromises are those that reinforce the
+premises we seek to change. Our goal is a world in which software users
+are free, but as yet most computer users do not even recognize freedom
+as an issue. They have taken up “consumer” values, which means they
+judge any program only on practical characteristics such as price and
+convenience.
+
+Dale Carnegie’s classic self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence
+People, advises that the most effective way to persuade someone to do
+something is to present arguments that appeal to his values. There are
+ways we can appeal to the consumer values typical in our society. For
+instance, free software obtained gratis can save the user money. Many
+free programs are convenient and reliable, too. Citing those practical
+benefits has succeeded in persuading many users to adopt various free
+programs, some of which are now quite successful.
+
+If getting more people to use some free programs is as far as you aim to
+go, you might decide to keep quiet about the concept of freedom, and
+focus only on the practical advantages that make sense in terms of
+consumer values. That’s what the term “open source” and its associated
+rhetoric do.
+
+That approach can get us only part way to the goal of freedom. People
+who use free software only because it is convenient will stick with it
+only as long as it is convenient. And they will see no reason not to use
+convenient proprietary programs along with it.
+
+The philosophy of open source presupposes and appeals to consumer
+values, and this affirms and reinforces them. That’s why we do not
+support open source.
+
+To establish a free community fully and lastingly, we need to do more
+than get people to use some free software. We need to spread the idea of
+judging software (and other things) on “citizen values,” based on
+whether it respects users’ freedom and community, not just in terms of
+convenience. Then people will not fall into the trap of a proprietary
+program baited by an attractive, convenient feature.
+
+To promote citizen values, we have to talk about them and show how they
+are the basis of our actions. We must reject the Dale Carnegie
+compromise that would influence their actions by endorsing their
+consumer values.
+
+This is not to say we cannot cite practical advantage at all—we can and
+we do. It becomes a problem only when the practical advantage steals the
+scene and pushes freedom into the background. Therefore, when we cite
+the practical advantages of free software, we reiterate frequently that
+those are just *additional, secondary* reasons to prefer it.
+
+It’s not enough to make our words accord with our ideals; our actions
+have to accord with them too. So we must also avoid compromises that
+involve doing or legitimizing the things we aim to stamp out.
+
+For instance, experience shows that you can attract some users to
+GNU/Linux if you include some nonfree programs. This could mean a cute
+nonfree application that will catch some user’s eye, or a nonfree
+programming platform such as Java[(5)](#FOOT5) (formerly) or the Flash
+runtime (still), or a nonfree device driver that enables support for
+certain hardware models.
+
+These compromises are tempting, but they undermine the goal. If you
+distribute nonfree software, or steer people towards it, you will find
+it hard to say, “Nonfree software is an injustice, a social problem, and
+we must put an end to it.” And even if you do continue to say those
+words, your actions will undermine them.
+
+The issue here is not whether people should be *able* or *allowed* to
+install nonfree software; a general-purpose system enables and allows
+users to do whatever they wish. The issue is whether we guide users
+towards nonfree software. What they do on their own is their
+responsibility; what we do for them, and what we direct them towards, is
+ours. We must not direct the users towards proprietary software as if it
+were a solution, because proprietary software is the problem.
+
+A ruinous compromise is not just a bad influence on others. It can
+distort your own values, too, through cognitive dissonance. If you have
+certain values, but your actions imply other, conflicting values, you
+are likely to change your values or your actions so as to resolve the
+contradiction. Thus, projects that argue only from practical advantages,
+or direct people toward some nonfree software, nearly always shy away
+from even *suggesting* that nonfree software is unethical. For their
+participants, as well as for the public, they reinforce consumer values.
+We must reject these compromises if we wish to keep our values straight.
+
+If you want to move to free software without compromising the goal of
+freedom, look at the FSF’s resources area, at
+<http://www.fsf.org/resources>. It lists hardware and machine
+configurations that work with free software, totally free GNU/Linux
+distros to install, and thousands of free software packages[(6)](#FOOT6)
+that work in a 100 percent free software environment. If you want to
+help the community stay on the road to freedom, one important way is to
+publicly uphold citizen values. When people are discussing what is good
+or bad, or what to do, cite the values of freedom and community and
+argue from them.
+
+A road that lets you go faster is not better if it leads to the wrong
+place. Compromise is essential to achieve an ambitious goal, but beware
+of compromises that lead away from the goal.
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+### Footnotes
+
+### [(1)](#DOCF1)
+
+@raggedright You can support the FSF through a membership at
+<http://my.fsf.org/join>. @end raggedright
+
+### [(2)](#DOCF2)
+
+@raggedright “Free” as in “freedom.” See @pageref{Definition} for the
+full definition of free software. @end raggedright
+
+### [(3)](#DOCF3)
+
+@raggedright See FSF executive director John Sullivan’s 2008 article
+“The Last Mile Is Always the Hardest,” at
+[http://fsf.org/bulletin/2008/spring/the-last-mile-is-\
+always-the-hardest](http://fsf.org/bulletin/2008/spring/the-last-mile-is-%3Cbr%3Ealways-the-hardest),
+for his perspective on this issue. @end raggedright
+
+### [(4)](#DOCF4)
+
+@raggedright You can find the full list of the Free System Distribution
+Guidelines (GNU FSDG) at
+[http://gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-\
+guidelines.html](http://gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-%3Cbr%3Eguidelines.html).
+@end raggedright
+
+### [(5)](#DOCF5)
+
+@raggedright See <http://gnu.org/philosophy/java-trap.html> for more on
+this. @end raggedright
+
+### [(6)](#DOCF6)
+
+@raggedright The Free Software Directory, at <http://directory.fsf.org>,
+lists all the free software we know about. @end raggedright
+
+</div>
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+This document was generated by *tonghuix* on *March 25, 2016* using
+[*texi2html 1.82*](http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/).\