1<html lang="en"> 2<head> 3<title>Funding - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)</title> 4<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> 5<meta name="description" content="Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)"> 6<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> 7<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> 8<link rel="prev" href="Contributing.html#Contributing" title="Contributing"> 9<link rel="next" href="GNU-Project.html#GNU-Project" title="GNU Project"> 10<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> 11<!-- 12Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 131998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 142010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 15 16Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document 17under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or 18any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the 19Invariant Sections being ``Funding Free Software'', the Front-Cover 20Texts being (a) (see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts being (b) 21(see below). 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The most effective approach known is to encourage 63commercial redistributors to donate. 64 65 <p>Users of free software systems can boost the pace of development by 66encouraging for-a-fee distributors to donate part of their selling price 67to free software developers—the Free Software Foundation, and others. 68 69 <p>The way to convince distributors to do this is to demand it and expect 70it from them. So when you compare distributors, judge them partly by 71how much they give to free software development. Show distributors 72they must compete to be the one who gives the most. 73 74 <p>To make this approach work, you must insist on numbers that you can 75compare, such as, “We will donate ten dollars to the Frobnitz project 76for each disk sold.” Don't be satisfied with a vague promise, such as 77“A portion of the profits are donated,” since it doesn't give a basis 78for comparison. 79 80 <p>Even a precise fraction “of the profits from this disk” is not very 81meaningful, since creative accounting and unrelated business decisions 82can greatly alter what fraction of the sales price counts as profit. 83If the price you pay is $50, ten percent of the profit is probably 84less than a dollar; it might be a few cents, or nothing at all. 85 86 <p>Some redistributors do development work themselves. This is useful too; 87but to keep everyone honest, you need to inquire how much they do, and 88what kind. Some kinds of development make much more long-term 89difference than others. For example, maintaining a separate version of 90a program contributes very little; maintaining the standard version of a 91program for the whole community contributes much. Easy new ports 92contribute little, since someone else would surely do them; difficult 93ports such as adding a new CPU to the GNU Compiler Collection contribute more; 94major new features or packages contribute the most. 95 96 <p>By establishing the idea that supporting further development is “the 97proper thing to do” when distributing free software for a fee, we can 98assure a steady flow of resources into making more free software. 99<!-- man end --> 100 101<pre class="display"> <!-- man begin COPYRIGHT --> 102 Copyright © 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 103 Verbatim copying and redistribution of this section is permitted 104 without royalty; alteration is not permitted. 105 <!-- man end --> 106</pre> 107 <!-- Copyright (C) 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc. --> 108<!-- This is part of the GCC manual. --> 109<!-- For copying conditions, see the file gcc.texi. --> 110 </body></html> 111 112