Free Software Definition
E59580
The Free Software Definition is a foundational document that outlines the essential freedoms users must have to run, study, modify, and share software, serving as the core philosophical and legal basis of the free software movement.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Free Software Definition canonical | 6 |
| The Free Software Definition | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T477631 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Free Software Definition Context triple: [free software movement, hasKeyText, Free Software Definition]
-
A.
free software movement
The free software movement is a social and political campaign that advocates for users’ freedom to run, study, modify, and share software, prominently championed by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.
-
B.
Free Software, Free Society
Free Software, Free Society is a collection of essays by Richard Stallman that articulates the philosophy, ethics, and political implications of the free software movement.
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C.
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a nonprofit organization that promotes computer users' freedom and defends the rights of all software users through advocacy, licensing, and development of free software.
-
D.
Free Culture
Free Culture is a 2004 book by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig that critiques restrictive copyright laws and advocates for a more open, remix-friendly culture.
-
E.
free culture movement
The free culture movement is a social and political effort advocating for the freedom to use, modify, and share creative works, challenging restrictive intellectual property laws to promote openness and collaboration.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Free Software Definition Target entity description: The Free Software Definition is a foundational document that outlines the essential freedoms users must have to run, study, modify, and share software, serving as the core philosophical and legal basis of the free software movement.
-
A.
free software movement
The free software movement is a social and political campaign that advocates for users’ freedom to run, study, modify, and share software, prominently championed by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.
-
B.
Free Software, Free Society
Free Software, Free Society is a collection of essays by Richard Stallman that articulates the philosophy, ethics, and political implications of the free software movement.
-
C.
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a nonprofit organization that promotes computer users' freedom and defends the rights of all software users through advocacy, licensing, and development of free software.
-
D.
Free Culture
Free Culture is a 2004 book by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig that critiques restrictive copyright laws and advocates for a more open, remix-friendly culture.
-
E.
free culture movement
The free culture movement is a social and political effort advocating for the freedom to use, modify, and share creative works, challenging restrictive intellectual property laws to promote openness and collaboration.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
foundational document
ⓘ
normative definition ⓘ philosophical text ⓘ software freedom definition ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
software licenses
ⓘ
software programs ⓘ |
| associatedWith | Free Software Foundation ⓘ |
| author | Richard Stallman ⓘ |
| clarifies |
distinction between free software and freeware
ⓘ
meaning of the term "free" in free software ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
nonfree software
ⓘ
proprietary software ⓘ |
| coreConcept |
freedom to distribute modified versions
ⓘ
freedom to modify the program ⓘ freedom to redistribute copies ⓘ freedom to run the program for any purpose ⓘ freedom to study how the program works ⓘ |
| defines | criteria for free software ⓘ |
| describes | free software ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
collective benefit of sharing software
ⓘ
freedom over price ⓘ users' rights rather than developers' control ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
software ethics
ⓘ
user freedoms ⓘ users' control over computing ⓘ |
| goal |
ensure users' freedom to control their computing
ⓘ
promote sharing and collaboration in software ⓘ |
| hasLegalRole | conceptual basis for free software licensing ⓘ |
| hasPhilosophicalRole | core statement of free software philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
GNU General Public License
ⓘ
copyleft licensing practices ⓘ open source definition ⓘ
linked to:
Open Source Initiative
|
| language | English ⓘ |
| maintainedBy | Free Software Foundation ⓘ |
| movement | free software movement ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
GNU Project
ⓘ
copyleft ⓘ digital rights ⓘ software freedom ⓘ |
| requires | access to source code for studying and modifying software ⓘ |
| specifies | essential software freedoms ⓘ |
| status | widely accepted standard in the free software community ⓘ |
| usedBy |
free software advocates
ⓘ
license reviewers ⓘ |
| usedFor |
classifying software as free or nonfree
ⓘ
evaluating software licenses ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Free Software Definition Description of subject: The Free Software Definition is a foundational document that outlines the essential freedoms users must have to run, study, modify, and share software, serving as the core philosophical and legal basis of the free software movement.
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Free Software Definition
subject linked to:
University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License (historical)