free software

software distributed under terms that allow users to freely run, study, change and distribute it and modified versions
class software_category Q341
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free software

Summary

free software is a software category[1]. It ranks in the top 3% of software_category entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (967 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • free software's video is recorded as What is Free Software (Open Source, FOSS).webm[3].
  • free software's image is recorded as Categories of free and nonfree software.svg[4].
  • free software's instance of is recorded as software category[5].
  • free software's movement is recorded as free software movement[6].
  • free software's Library of Congress authority ID is recorded as sh86005933[7].
  • free software's Bibliothèque nationale de France ID is recorded as 13537550p[8].
  • free software's IdRef ID is recorded as 050678051[9].
  • free software's subclass of is recorded as freely redistributable software[10].
  • free software's subclass of is recorded as source-available software[11].
  • free software's subclass of is recorded as open-source software[12].
  • free software's part of is recorded as open source movement[13].
  • free software's Commons category is recorded as Free software[14].
  • free software's pronunciation audio is recorded as LL-Q150 (fra)-Visiteur Journée 2 - 2 (Madehub)-logiciel privateur.wav[15].
  • free software's said to be the same as is recorded as open-source software[16].
  • free software's said to be the same as is recorded as free and open-source software[17].
  • free software's opposite of is recorded as proprietary software[18].
  • free software's BNCF Thesaurus ID is recorded as 7535[19].
  • free software's Freebase ID is recorded as /m/02w7h[20].
  • free software's topic's main category is recorded as Category:Free software[21].
  • free software's National Library of Spain SpMaBN ID is recorded as XX549777[22].
  • free software's spoken text audio is recorded as Wikipedia - Free software.mp3[23].
  • free software's Dewey Decimal Classification is recorded as 005.36[24].
  • free software's topic's main Wikimedia portal is recorded as Portal:Free software[25].
  • free software's OmegaWiki Defined Meaning is recorded as 530291[26].
  • free software's facet of is recorded as computer program[27].

Body

Works and Contributions

Things named for free software include it movement[28], a social movement[29]; Libera.Chat[30], an IRC network[31], in Sweden[32], founded in 2021[33]; freenode[34], an IRC network[35], founded in 1994[36]; Free Software Directory[37], a MediaWiki wiki[38]; Open and Free Technology Community[39], an IRC network[40], founded in 2001[41]; Lingua Libre[42], a web application[43], founded in 2015[44]; Software Freedom Day[45], a holiday[46], founded in 2004[47]; and Free Software Street[48], a street[49], in Spain[50], founded in 2010[51].

Why It Matters

free software ranks in the top 3% of software_category entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (967 views/month).[2] It has Wikipedia articles in 30 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[52] It is known by 31 alternative names across languages and contexts.[53]

Entities named for it include it movement[28], a social movement[29]; Libera.Chat[30], an IRC network[31], in Sweden[32], founded in 2021[33]; freenode[34], an IRC network[35], founded in 1994[36]; Free Software Directory[37], a MediaWiki wiki[38]; Open and Free Technology Community[39], an IRC network[40], founded in 2001[41]; and Lingua Libre[42], a web application[43], founded in 2015[44].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [3] . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] . wikidata.org.
  3. [5] . wikidata.org.
  4. [6] . wikidata.org.
  5. [7] . github.com. Retrieved . github.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  6. [8] . wikidata.org.
  7. [9] . wikidata.org.
  8. [10] . wikidata.org.
  9. [11] . wikidata.org.
  10. [12] . wikidata.org.
  11. [13] . wikidata.org.
  12. [14] . wikidata.org.
  13. [15] . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] . wikidata.org.
  15. [17] . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] . Nuovo soggettario. wikidata.org.
  18. [20] . Freebase Data Dumps. wikidata.org.
  19. [21] . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] . Spain open data portal. Retrieved . bne.es. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  21. [23] . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] . Nuovo soggettario. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] . wikidata.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [28] . wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [30] . wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [34] . wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [37] . wikidata.org. → on this site
  5. [39] . wikidata.org. → on this site
  6. [42] . wikidata.org. → on this site
  7. [45] . wikidata.org. → on this site
  8. [48] . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [29] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [31] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [32] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [33] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  5. [35] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  6. [36] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  7. [38] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  8. [40] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  9. [41] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  10. [43] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  11. [44] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  12. [46] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  13. [47] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  14. [49] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  15. [50] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  16. [51] . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Class ancestry

  1. [1] . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [52] . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [53] . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). free software. Retrieved March 8, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/free-software
MLA “free software.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 8 Mar. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/free-software.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_free-software_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{free software}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/free-software}, note = {Accessed: 2026-03-08}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): free software — https://4ort.xyz/entity/free-software (retrieved 2026-03-08)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 19d ago · Mariobanana · 2026-05-02 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Pixiv encyclopedia id 自由ソフトウェア
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ [[Property:P11408]]: 自由ソフトウェア"
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