This definition is maintained as part of the SELF Legal Policy by the SELF Legal Experts Group (LEG). If you have comments about this definition, please feel free to submit them to the Legal Experts Group at leg - AT - selfproject.eu. A list of approved and disapproved licenses is available online .

Appendix 4 – Front page for deliverables In the common definition, which also provides the basis of the Free Software Foundations, four freedoms define¹ Free Software:

1. The freedom to run the programme, for any purpose.

   Placing restrictions on the use of Free Software, such as time (30 days trial period'', ''license expires January 1st, 2007''), purpose (''permission granted for research and non-commercial use'') or geographic area (''must not be used in country X'') makes a programme non-free.

2. The freedom to study how the programme works, and adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

   Placing legal or practical restrictions on the comprehension or modification of a programme, such as mandatory purchase of special licenses, signing of a Non-Disclosure-Agreement (NDA) or making the preferred human way of comprehending and editing a programme (and its ''source code'') inaccessible also makes it proprietary.

3. The freedom to make and redistribute copies.

   If you are not allowed to give a programme to someone else, that makes a programme non-free. Redistributing copies can be done gratis or for a charge, if you so choose.

4. The freedom to improve the programme, and release improvements. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

   Not everyone is a programmer, or a programmer equally good in all fields. This freedom allows those with the necessary skills to share them with those who do not possess them. Such modifications can be made gratis or for a charge.

This definition was first documented in the GNU's Bulletin, vol. 1, no. 1², published January 1986 and will also provide the basis for SELF.