From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Drew Adams Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: RE: debugging Emacs LISP functions Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2017 10:31:33 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <6203cb70-5410-4ab6-9a69-706a7b2c99ff@default> References: <20170301121427.GA3290@workstation> <1134748621.1292569.1488389611565@mail.yahoo.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: blaine.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: blaine.gmane.org 1488393173 5318 195.159.176.226 (1 Mar 2017 18:32:53 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@blaine.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2017 18:32:53 +0000 (UTC) To: John Valente , hector , help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Mar 01 19:32:38 2017 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1cj93A-00089l-8z for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 01 Mar 2017 19:32:32 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:48167 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cj93G-0000LV-AO for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:32:38 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:59785) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cj92N-0000HI-QS for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:31:44 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cj92J-0001FG-Q1 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:31:43 -0500 Original-Received: from userp1040.oracle.com ([156.151.31.81]:17730) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cj92J-0001En-Gu for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:31:39 -0500 Original-Received: from aserv0021.oracle.com (aserv0021.oracle.com [141.146.126.233]) by userp1040.oracle.com (Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2/Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2) with ESMTP id v21IVaWE001093 (version=TLSv1 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Wed, 1 Mar 2017 18:31:37 GMT Original-Received: from userv0121.oracle.com (userv0121.oracle.com [156.151.31.72]) by aserv0021.oracle.com (8.13.8/8.14.4) with ESMTP id v21IVaHX007620 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Wed, 1 Mar 2017 18:31:36 GMT Original-Received: from abhmp0007.oracle.com (abhmp0007.oracle.com [141.146.116.13]) by userv0121.oracle.com (8.14.4/8.13.8) with ESMTP id v21IVZNf025824; Wed, 1 Mar 2017 18:31:35 GMT In-Reply-To: <1134748621.1292569.1488389611565@mail.yahoo.com> X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Oracle Beehive Extensions for Outlook 2.0.1.9.1 (1003210) [OL 12.0.6753.5000 (x86)] X-Source-IP: aserv0021.oracle.com [141.146.126.233] X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4.x-2.6.x [generic] [fuzzy] X-Received-From: 156.151.31.81 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:112408 Archived-At: > The blurring between "user" and "developer", in this case, has nothing > to do with free software. Not sure just what you meant by "in this case". But the distinction between user and developer _does_, in general, have something to do with _free software_. It has at least these two, essentially independent, things to do with free software: 1. Users can be developers of the Emacs product that is distributed ("core" Emacs). A "developer" role here is pretty much open to any user (and even non-users). 2. Free software means freely available source code. And with the GPL, anyone is permitted to use, copy, and modify copies of the source code, within the rights of the license. Non-free software typically does not allow for either of these. It can sometimes allow for #1 (development by users) to some extent. But ource code (at least some of it) is typically not made available to everyone who uses non-free software. There is another sense in which _Emacs_ is a bit special wrt the user/developer distinction: its _ease_ of customization/modification/development by users. Emacs has always had user modification and ease of that as one of its primary features. It is a poster child for this.