Transcript Overview of Free/Open Source Software for Librarians

Overview of Free/Open Source
Software for Librarians
Eric Goldhagen
[email protected]
GNU and LINUX
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Richard Stallman
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GNU (GNU Not Unix)
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Started writing free software utilities for unix in 1984
Stallman personally wrote an impressive amount of
software
Founded GNU and Free Software Foundation
http://gnu.org http://www.fsf.org
By 1991 GNU created all the elements of a free OS
except a kernel
Linus Torvalis
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Linux
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Wrote linux kernel in 1991
Linux was released under GPL,
the software license written by Richard Stallman
Important Terms:
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Software is written as text (source code)
Software is most often distributed as an
application (binary) that runs in a specific
operating system and type of hardware
(architecture)
Source code is modified (compiled) by
another program (compiler) to create a
binary
Free software and open source are in
most cases equivalent and may be found
abbreviated as FOSS, F/OSS or FLOSS
What Do You Mean Free?
Free as in Speech (always)
Free as in Beer (sometimes)
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Free to read source code and evaluate it for
security and other reasons
Free to modify source code for your own use
Free to distribute your modifications
Free to anyone for any use
More extensive definition at http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.p
Freedom Backed by License
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The freedoms associated with F/OSS are
protected by software licenses
There are many different licenses for
F/OSS
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GPL (GNU General Public License)
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BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)
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Strong copyleft license, all code modifications must
be released
Permissive and non-copyleft, allows for easier
bundling of f/oss with commercial tools.
LGPL (GNU Lesser GPL)
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Compromise between GPL and BSD-like licenses.
Not a strong copyleft license, because it permits
Why Should Librarians Care
About Software Licenses?
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Discussions of software license, fair use
and copyright overlap
Creative Commons License for content
is an outgrowth of F/OSS
End User License Agreements (EULA's) limit
rights
Free/open source licenses protect freedom and
rights
You never own commercial software
Public access can be restricted by EULA's
Software licenses are a drain on limited library
Radical Reference: Tools
Drupal for Website
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Content Management System
– Provides web interface to create, modify and
otherwise
maintain content on the website
Modular and extensible
– Over 200 code modules exist to add features and
content types to the system
100% Free / released under GPL
– LAMP (linux, apache, mysql, [php | python | perl])
Large international development community
– Over 1000 developers over the past 5 years have
added code
Radical Reference: Tools
Lightningbug for Reference
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GPL / LAMP
Developed for the counterconvention.org site
Designed to facilitate collaboration in vetting site
content
Modified to work in the context of
answering reference questions
Some of those changes were added to the distributed
code
Small development community
– Very responsive to users of system
– Code under active development with fixes and new
features being added on a regular basis
Available at http://lightningbug.sourceforge.net/
Summary
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Software licenses/EULA's restrict fair-use
Commercial software is never owned, but
leased
Commercial software is guided by the
desires of the marketing department; F/OSS
is guided by the needs of the users and the
whims of the programmers
F/OSS creates a dynamic where collectivity
and competition are not mutually exclusive
concepts
F/OSS creates a culture where contribution
and participation are valued over ownership.
What FLOSS to Use?
Ty pe of Sof t w a re Proprie t a ry
F/OSS
Web Browser
In t ern et Ex plorer
Mozilla Firefox ; Opera
Word processin g
Microfoft Word
Open Office Writ er
Presen t at ion s
Microsoft PowerPoin t
Open Office Im press
Spreadsheet s
Microsoft Ex cel
Open Office Calc
Dat abase
Oracle; m s sql server
My SQL Post greSQL
Graphics edit in g
Adobe Phot oshop
GIMP
Deskt op Pu blishin g
Qu ark Xpress
Scribu s
In st an t Messagin g
AIM
GAIM
Fin an ces
Qu icken
Gn u Cash; Tu rboCash
PDF Creat ion
Adobe Acrobat
PDF Creat or; Ghost script
Au dio Edit in g
ProTools
Au dacit y
Flowchart in g
Visio
Dia
Vect or Graphics
Adobe Illu st rat or
Sodipodi
Em ail clien t
Ou t look
Thu n derbird; kMail
Filling in the Blanks
On line Resources for More Information on the Topics Covered
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Free Software Foundation http://fsf.org
GNU http://gnu.org
Open Source Initiative http://www.opensource.org
NOSI (Nonprofit Open Source Initiative)
http://nosi.net
Linux distributions
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Debian http://debian.org
Redhat http://redhat.com Fedora http://fedora.redhat.com
Ubuntu http://ubunto.com
Gnoppix http://gnoppix.org
Where to find f/oss
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Sourceforge http://sourceforge.net
Freshmeat http://freshmeat.net
Credits
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Presentation created with Open Office 1.1
Created using a salvaged computer running
Debian LINUX
Presentation theme distributed free with Open
Office 1.1
On line sources used for this presentation are all
listed on the “Filling in the blanks” page