Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 17:39:02 -0700 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, Bill/Carolyn Pechter <pechter@shell.monmouth.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: GNU software (was: "Open Source Town Meeting" supports only one faction) Message-ID: <199807220039.RAA03042@dingo.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 22 Jul 1998 09:50:17 %2B0930." <19980722095017.F8098@freebie.lemis.com>
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> On Tuesday, 21 July 1998 at 17:08:58 -0700, Mike Smith wrote: > >> On Tuesday, 21 July 1998 at 15:03:16 -0600, Brett Glass wrote: > >>> At 04:52 PM 7/21/98 -0400, Bill/Carolyn Pechter wrote: > >>> > >>>> Brett -- I also disagree with the Free Software Foundation's philosophy. > >>>> However, I think it's a reasonable place for the funding to go. > >>> > >>> I disagree. The Free Software Foundation's main objective nowadays is to > >>> promote the notion that the GPL is the One True Way. > >> > >> That may be. But do you intend to stop using GNU software because of > >> that? If not, I think it's fair to support the people who supply it. > > > > You're making the mistake that the FSF want you to; namely that they > > are the sole source of "GNU" software. What you may mean is that we > > should not stop using GPL'd software. > > I'm not sure we're understanding each other here. My question was > rhetorical, with an implicit "no" as answer. Looking in > /usr/src/gnu/usr.bin, I see: > > bc cvs gdb gzip ptx tar binutils dc genclass ld rcs texinfo bison > dialog gperf man sdiff as cc diff grep patch send-pr awk cpio diff3 > groff perl sort > > Of these, I use frequently and believe we have no alternative source > of: > > cvs gdb gzip rcs texinfo bison grep patch awk groff perl sort > > I also use Emacs and bash, both of which are GPLd. I have no > intention of even trying to change. I never suggested otherwise. I merely ask you what makes you think that the FSF are the only organisation that's supporting the development of these tools. I didn't even touch on whether we should be considering supporting other organisations and individuals which support and develop other worthwhile material but receive less support already. > > Whether that's desirable is arguable, but note that AFAIK almost > > none of the GPL'd components we use (for example) are developed or > > have their development supported substantially by the FSF. > > gcc, gdb, Cygnus are the only organisation that seems to have spent any real time on these of late, and that significantly with funding from commercial vendors. You omitted the binutils, which fall into the same category. > Emacs, A cast of thousands. > bash, I never use it. > grep, A cast of several, with no clear affiliation (other than that the bit written by RMS is the worst). > awk? An FSF original. -- \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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