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<title>The Virtual Richard M. Stallman package</title>
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<meta name="author" content="Rogério Brito" />
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<h1>The Virtual Richard M. Stallman (vrms) package</h1>
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<p>
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In the early 1980's <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard M.
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Stallman</a> created the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/">GNU project</a>,
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whose goal was to provide the world with a <a href=
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"http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free Operating System</a>
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(with the word "Free" with the same meaning as in "Freedom").
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</p>
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<p>
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Since then, a lot of Free Software was developed and entire
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operating systems based <em>only</em> on Free Software were
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created. Unfortunately, some data is still stored in a format
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that is proprietary, secret and non-standard, made by corporations
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that want to retain control over the users of the software that
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generates such data.
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</p>
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<p>
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This, of course, is meant to keep the users following the newer
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versions of the software that "control" the users' data (so that
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the users can still have access to their own creations).
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</p>
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<p>
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Also, unfortunately, most of the time, the software for
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manipulating such data is not Free in the sense desired by Richard
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Stallman. Software that does not allow all the freedoms stipulated
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by Richard Stallman is called <em>non-free</em> software.
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</p>
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<p>
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The <tt>vrms</tt> program provides the facility for users
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of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>-based Operating
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Systems (like, e.g., <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a>)
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to detect if their systems have any non-free software installed,
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so that the users can keep their only with software that doesn't
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pose any legal problems.
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</p>
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<p>
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The package is now maintained (on
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Debian's <a href="http://alioth.debian.org/">alioth</a> system) by
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a team of developers including <a href="http://www.gag.com/">Bdale
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Garbee</a> (one of the original authors),
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and <a href="http://rb.doesntexist.org/">Rogério Brito</a>, with
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the help of many contributers.
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</p>
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<p>
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The source code is maintained with a version control system called
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<a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/">Subversion</a>. Anybody can
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obtain the source code for the vrms package from <a href=
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"http://alioth.debian.org/projects/vrms/">alioth.debian.org</a>
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and any collaboration is <em>highly</em> appreciated.
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</p>
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<hr />
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<p>
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This page is proudly written in <a
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href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer">valid XHTML 1.1</a>. It
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was made using <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free Software</a>
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only. Free Software is <strong>much more</strong> than zero-cost
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software!
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</p>
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<p>
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Last updated: 2009-05-02
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by <a href="http://www.ime.usp.br/~rbrito/">Rogério Brito</a>.
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</p>
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</body>
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