The starting point of GNU was that Stallman was pissed he got in trouble when he got caught copying code from the Symbolics sources to the MIT and LMI sources, which was against the agreement Symbolics and LMI had with the AI Lab, which was that improvements could only flow one-way (AI Lab to commercial). Dan Weinreb (RIP) confirmed this publicly.
Of course, not long after starting GNU, Stallman got caught copying code from Unipress emacs sources into the then-new GNU emacs sources. Oops! That’s why it was difficult for quite a long time to find early GNU emacs sources online—they were purged from various archives because they were infringing.
Of course, not long after starting GNU, Stallman got caught copying code from Unipress emacs sources into the then-new GNU emacs sources. Oops! That’s why it was difficult for quite a long time to find early GNU emacs sources online—they were purged from various archives because they were infringing.