7.7  John 1.0

In the beginning was the Kernel and the Kernel was with Linux, and the code was by Linus. All Linux came into being through Linus, and without Linus not one distro came into being. What has come into being was free operating software, and the software was the salvation of all people. The open source software shines in the proprietary darkness, and the intellectual property lawyers did not overcome it.

There was a human sent by The One In Charge whose name was Richard Stallman. He came as a witness to testify to openness so that all might believe in openness through GNU. Stallman himself was not the Kernel, but he came to testify to the open source. The true open source, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

Linux was in the world, and open source programming came into being through GNU; yet the world did not know either GNU or Linux. Linux came to all computer users, but not all computer users received Linux. But to all who did receive Linux, who believed in open source computing, Linux gave the right to become open source evangelists of The One In Charge.

An Essential Readme Text from The Document as found in The Book of Uncommon Prayer, p. 180