View source for Gratis versus libre

{{Short description|Two meanings of "free" in English}}
{{Redirect|Free as in freedom|the book|Free as in Freedom}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Gratis'' versus ''libre''}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Essay-like|date=January 2020}}
[[File:Isummit 2008, Japan, free beer crop.png|thumb|[[Free Beer]] being sold for 500&nbsp;[[Japanese yen|yen]] at Isummit 2008. This contradicts the usual definition and instead illustrates ''"Free as in freedom":'' recipe and label shared openly under [[CC BY-SA]].]]The adjective '''''free''''' in English is commonly used in one of two meanings: "at no monetary cost" ('''''gratis''''') or "with little or no restriction" ('''''libre'''''). This ambiguity can cause issues where the distinction is important, as it often is in dealing with laws concerning the use of [[information]], such as [[copyright]] and [[patent]]s.

The terms ''gratis'' and ''libre'' may be used to categorise [[intellectual property]] like [[computer program]]s, according to the [[license]]s and legal restrictions that cover them, especially in the [[free software community|free software and open source communities]], as well as the broader [[free culture movement]]. For example, they are used to distinguish "[[freeware]]" ([[software]] ''gratis'') from [[free software]] (software ''libre'').

Free software advocate and [[GNU Project|GNU]] founder [[Richard Stallman]] advocates usage of the slogan: "Think free as in [[Freedom of speech|free speech]], not free beer."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lessig |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Lessig |url=https://www.wired.com/2006/09/free-as-in-beer/ |title=Free, as in beer |access-date=2009-03-18 |date=September 2006 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |archive-date=25 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240725183246/https://www.wired.com/2006/09/free-as-in-beer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This basically means: "Think free as in ''libre'', not ''gratis''."

==''Gratis''==
''Gratis'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|r|ɑː|t|ɪ|s}}) in English is adopted from the various [[Romance languages|Romance]] and [[Germanic languages]], ultimately descending from the plural [[ablative]] and [[dative]] form of the first-[[declension]] [[noun]] {{lang|la|grātia}} in [[Latin]]. It means "free" in the sense that some goods or service is supplied without need for payment, even though it may have value.

== ''Libre'' ==
{{Anchor|libre|Libre|liber|Liber}}
''Libre'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|iː|b|r|ə}}) in English is adopted from the various Romance languages, ultimately descending from the Latin word {{lang|la|līber}}; its origin is closely related to ''[[liberty]]''. It denotes "the state of being free", as in "liberty" or "having freedom".<!-- {{cn}}  --> The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (OED) considers ''libre'' to be obsolete,<ref>[http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/107929 OED.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112091240/http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/107929 |date=12 November 2014 }}, OED definition of ''libre'': "Obs. Of the will: Free". Access to the OED is libre, but not gratis.</ref> but the word has come back into limited{{efn|name=numbers}} use.<!-- {{cn}}  --> Unlike ''{{wikt-lang|en|gratis}}'', ''{{wikt-lang|en|libre}}'' appears in few English dictionaries,{{efn|name=numbers|[http://www.onelook.com/ The Onelook dictionary website] finds about 5 monoglot English dictionaries including "libre"; about 30 include "gratis"}} although there is no other English single-word adjective signifying "liberty" exclusively, without also meaning "at no monetary cost".<!-- {{cn}}  -->

== "Free beer" and "freedom of speech" distinction {{Anchor|beer|Beer|Free as in free beer}} ==

In software development, where the [[marginal cost]] of an additional unit is zero, it is common for developers to make software available at no cost. One of the early and basic forms of this model is called [[freeware]]. With freeware, software is licensed only for personal use and the developer does not gain any monetary payment.

With the advent of the [[free software]] movement, license schemes were created to give developers more freedom in terms of code sharing, commonly called [[Open-source software|open source]] or [[free and open-source software]] (called FLOSS, FOSS, or F/OSS). As the English adjective ''free'' does not distinguish between "for free" and "liberty", the phrases "free as in freedom of speech" (''libre'', free software) and "free as in free beer" (''gratis'', freeware) were adopted. Many in the free software movement feel strongly about the ''freedom'' to use the software, make modifications, etc., whether or not this freely usable software is to be exchanged for money. Therefore, this distinction became important.

{{blockquote|text="Free software" means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, "free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer". We sometimes call it "libre software," borrowing the French or Spanish word for "free" as in freedom, to show we do not mean the software is gratis. |author=[[The Free Software Foundation]]<ref>{{cite web|title=What is free software?|url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html|website=GNU Operating System|publisher=Free Software Foundation, Inc.|access-date=11 May 2018|archive-date=14 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014132149/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

These phrases have become common, along with ''gratis'' and ''libre'', in the software development and computer law fields for encapsulating this distinction.{{efn|For example, the [[free software]] [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html definition] clarifies the distinction in this way.}} The distinction is similar to the distinction made in [[political science]] between [[positive liberty]] and [[negative liberty]]. Like "free beer", positive liberty promises equal access by all without cost or regard to income, of a given good (assuming the good exists). Like "free speech", negative liberty safeguards the right to use of something (in this case, speech) without regard to whether in a given case there is a cost involved for this use.{{efn|A quote from the GNU free software definition was used in a section on positive and negative liberty by Guinevere Nell in ''Rediscovering Fire: Basic Economic Lessons From the Soviet Experiment'', Algora, 2010.}}

== Uses in open-access academic publishing ==
{{main|Open access}}

In order to reflect real-world differences in the degree of open access, the distinction between gratis open access and libre open access was added in 2006 by [[Peter Suber]] and [[Stevan Harnad]], two of the co-drafters of the original [[Budapest Open Access Initiative]] definition of open access publishing.<ref name="Gratis and Libre Open Access">Suber, Peter. 2008.[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4322580 "Gratis and Libre Open Access"] {{Webarchive|url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170310160505/https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/4322580 |date=10 March 2017 }}. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref> Gratis open access refers to online access free of charge (which Wikipedia indicates with the icon {{nowrap|{{free access}})}}, and libre open access refers to online access free of charge plus some additional re-use rights (Wikipedia icon {{nowrap|{{open access}})}}.<ref name="Gratis and Libre Open Access" /> Libre open access is equivalent to the definition of open access in the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the [[Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing]] and the [[Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities]]. The re-use rights of libre OA are often specified by various specific [[Creative Commons license]]s;<ref name="Suber 2012 68–69">{{harvnb|Suber|2012|pp=68–69}}</ref> these almost all require [[Attribution (copyright)|attribution of authorship]] to the original authors.<ref name="Gratis and Libre Open Access" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Suber|first=Peter|title=Open access|url=https://archive.org/details/9780262517638OpenAccess|year=2012|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9780262517638|pages=[https://archive.org/details/9780262517638OpenAccess/page/n29 7]-8}}</ref>

===Comparison with use in software===
The original gratis/libre distinction concerns software (i.e., code), with which users can potentially do two{{citation_needed|date=February 2017}} kinds of things: 1. access and use it; and 2. modify and [[Code reuse|re-use]] it. "Gratis" pertains to being {{em|able}} to access and use the code, without a price-barrier, while "libre" pertains to being {{em|allowed}} to modify and re-use the code, without a permission barrier. The target content of the [[open access]] movement, however, is not software but published, [[Peer review|peer-reviewed]] research journal article texts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Swan |first=Alma |date=2012 |title=Policy guidelines for the development and promotion of open access |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000215863 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414001646/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000215863 |archive-date=14 April 2019 |access-date=14 April 2019 |website=UNESCO}}</ref>

# '''Source code accessibility and use.''' For published research articles, the case for making their text accessible free for all online (Gratis) is even stronger than it is for software code, because in the case of software, some developers may wish to give their code away for free, while others may wish to sell it, whereas in the case of published research article texts, ''all'' their authors, without exception, give them away for free: None seek or get royalties or fees from their sale.<ref>[[Stevan Harnad|Harnad, Stevan]] (2003) [http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/4406/For_Whom_the_Gate_Tolls.pdf?sequence=1 For Whom the Gate Tolls] ''Journal of Postgraduate Medicine'' 49: 337-342</ref>{{dubious|date=August 2014}} On the contrary, any access-denial to potential users means loss of potential research impact ([[Citation impact|downloads, citations]]) for the author's research—and researcher-authors' employment, salary, promotion and funding depends in part on the [[Scientometrics|uptake and impact]] of their research.
# '''Source code modifiability and re-use.''' For published research articles, the case for allowing text [[Code reuse|modification and re-use]] is much weaker than for software code, because, unlike software, the ''text'' of a research article is not intended for modification and re-use. (In contrast, the ''content'' of research articles is and always was intended for modification and re-use: that is how research progresses.) There are no copyright barriers to modifying, developing, building upon and re-using an author's ideas and findings, once they have been published, as long as the author and published source are credited—but modifications to the published text are another matter. Apart from verbatim [[quotation]], scholarly/scientific authors are not in general interested in allowing other authors to create "[[Mashup (book)|mashups]]" of their texts. Researcher-authors are all happy to make their texts available for [[Web harvesting|harvesting]] and [[Index (search engine)|indexing]] for [[Search engine technology|search]] as well as [[Data mining|data-mining]], but not for [[Code reuse|re-use]] in altered form (without the permission of the author).

The formal [[analogy]] between open software and open access has been made,<ref>[[Peter Suber|Suber, Peter]] (2008) [http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/08-02-08.htm#gratis-libre Gratis and libre open access] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115144052/http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/08-02-08.htm#gratis-libre |date=15 January 2013 }} ''SPARC Open Access Newsletter'', August 2, 2008</ref> along with the generalization of the gratis/libre distinction from the one field to the other.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
* [[Alternative terms for free software]]
* [[Comparison of free and open-source software licenses]]
* [[Free Beer]] (free as freedom, not gratis)
* [[Free software movement]]
* [[Freedom isn't free]]
* [[Gift economy]]
* [[Information wants to be free]]
* [[No such thing as a free lunch]]
* [[Open content]]
* [[Open-source license]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
* ''Free as in Speech and Beer'', book by Darren Wershler-Henry
* [http://wiki.c2.com/?FreeAsInBeer Stallman's discussion of FreeAsInBeer]

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary-inline|libre}}
* {{Wiktionary-inline|gratis}}
* {{Wiktionary-inline|free of charge}}
* {{Wiktionary-inline|free}}

{{FOSS}}

[[Category:English phrases]]
[[Category:Free software culture and documents]]