as for Calc and the math library

[Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com>]

----- Kristof Đymek
Administrator General - Chilkat Design Build - Naiad Informatics - Gnu Project

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> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2024 at 1:22 AM
> From: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org>
> To: "Nicolas Martyanoff" <nicolas@n16f.net>
> Cc: arthur.miller@live.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: as for Calc and the math library
>
> > From: Nicolas Martyanoff <nicolas@n16f.net>
> > Cc: Nicolas Martyanoff <nicolas@n16f.net>,  arthur.miller@live.com,
> >   emacs-devel@gnu.org
> > Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2024 14:11:07 +0200
> > 
> > Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> > 
> > > We made the effort to allow loading dynamic modules precisely for this
> > > reason: to allow free libraries to be used, but not non-free ones.
> > 
> > You absolutely can use non-free dynamic modules: enforcing the existence
> > of a symbol saying "I promise I'm free" does not change anything. One
> > could also easily add a free dynamic module that calls non-free
> > libraries.
> 
> The need to declare that a library is free and have its sources freely
> available does serve as an obstacle for non-free software.  And using
> non-free library with a free module is against the GPL, so it is
> illegal.  We cannot prevent people from lying and doing illegal
> things, we can only make it harder.

License terms do not prohibit the software's use, such a restriction would 
not be enforceable. 
 
> > It is sad to see Emacs being hamstrung and users being limited because
> > someone could do something that would have no impact whatsoever with the
> > project or any other user.
> 
> This is a sad world for more reasons than one, but discussing that is
> off-topic here.
 
What you can do is remove non-free software from free-software tools.
You are wasting time for no real returns.