What informational files are available for Emacs?
This isn’t a frequently asked question, but it should be! A variety of informational files about Emacs and relevant aspects of the GNU project are available for you to read.
The following files (and others) are available in the etc directory of the Emacs distribution (see What are src/config.h, site-lisp/default.el, etc.?, if you’re not sure where that is). Many of these files are available via the Emacs ‘Help’ menu, or by typing C-h ? (M-x help-for-help).
COPYING
GNU General Public License
DISTRIB
Emacs Availability Information
MACHINES
Status of Emacs on Various Machines and Systems
NEWS
Emacs news, a history of recent user-visible changes
More GNU and FSF information is available at