This is the Jargon File, a comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor.
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See the changes over the years
This document (the Jargon File) is in the public domain, to be freely used, shared, and modified. There are (by intention) no legal restraints on what you can do with it, but there are traditions about its proper use to which many hackers are quite strongly attached. Please extend the courtesy of proper citation when you quote the File. Historical citations would ideally be with a version number. Since the File is intended to be a "living" document, changing over time, it is best to use the date of access as your reference if you are accessing it today on "modern" interfaces.
Versions will periodically be created when enough changes are adopted to warrant one.
The Jargon File is a common heritage of the hacker culture. Over the years a number of individuals have volunteered considerable time to maintaining the File and been recognized by the net at large as editors of it. Editorial responsibilities include: to collate contributions and suggestions from others; to seek out corroborating information; to cross-reference related entries; to keep the file in a consistent format; and to announce and distribute updated versions periodically.
Although there is no requirement that you do so, it is considered good form to check with an editor before quoting the File in a published work or commercial product. We may have additional information that would be helpful to you and can assist you in framing your quote to reflect not only the letter of the File but its spirit as well.
All contributions and suggestions about this file sent to a volunteer editor are gratefully received and will be regarded, unless otherwise labelled, as freely given donations for possible use as part of this public-domain file.
Check out our discussion page on how to submit a change to the Jargon File
The current editor is Anthony Giacalone anthonyg@sdf.org. He is a lecturer at CSU Long Beach and long-time hacker.
The official maintenance repository can be found at https://github.com/agiacalone/jargonfile
