GNU ( GNOO) is an extensive collection of free software (387 packages as of June 2025), which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. Most of GNU is licensed under the GNU Project's own General Public License (GPL). GNU is also the project within which the free software concept originated. Richard Stallman, the founder of the project, views GNU as a "technical means to a social end". Relatedly, Lawrence Lessig states in his introduction to the second edition of Stallman's book Free Software, Free Society that in it Stallman has written about "the social aspects of software and how Free Software can create community and social justice".
