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EnglishIs gedit Free and Open Source, and What Is Its Background?
Updated
Yes. gedit is released under Free/Libre Open Source software licenses, so you can use, inspect, and redistribute it under those license terms. It is a general-purpose text editor that started development in 1998, at the beginnings of the GNOME project, and it is designed for good integration with that desktop environment. The site gedit-text-editor.org presents itself as a project information page, not a commercial storefront.
What gedit is
gedit is described as easy to learn and comfortable to use. It works for simple notes and documents, and you can enable more advanced features that are useful for software development. That makes it a reasonable first choice if you want one editor that covers both casual writing and light coding, especially on a GNOME-based desktop.
Background and licensing at a glance
| Question | Answer from the project site |
|---|---|
| Is it free and open source? | Yes — released under Free/Libre Open Source software licenses |
| When did development start? | 1998, at the beginnings of the GNOME project |
| What is it built to work with? | The GNOME desktop environment, with good integration |
| What can it do? | General-purpose editing: simple notes and documents, plus optional advanced features for software development |
| What is gedit-text-editor.org? | A project information entry point, not a sales page |
What this means for your decision
If your main concern is whether you can adopt gedit without a commercial license, the project's own statement answers that: it is Free/Libre Open Source. If you work on GNOME, the stated desktop integration is a practical advantage. If you need a single editor for both notes and development work, the site explicitly positions gedit for both, with advanced features you enable as needed.
The site does not publish pricing or account requirements, and none should be inferred from its absence. For bugs and community contact, the project points to its bug reporting channel and to Discourse under the Applications category with the gedit tag.