Re: Emacs project mission (was Re: "If you're still seeing problems, please reopen.")

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:59:27 +0000
> Cc: rms@gnu.org, ofv@wanadoo.es, perry@piermont.com, michael.albinus@gmx.de,
>   dgutov@yandex.ru, larsi@gnus.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
> 
> > I think the idea is that most people nowadays have some kind of
> > account already -- either in gmail, or in facebook, or in one of the
> > other services that GitLab is capable of using instead of a GitLab
> > specific registration.
> 
> Please reconsider.  I don't think the GNU project should in any way
> endorse companies like Facebook or Google or Microsoft, which are no
> friends of free software (except their use of free (as in beer)
> software).

We are not endorsing any of them when we ask our users to report bugs
and contribute code.  We welcome and gratefully accept any such bug
reports and code contributions, and don't request those who contribute
to pledge allegiance to the ideals of the GNU Project or free software
in general.  Exactly like becoming an official maintainer of a GNU
project does not require one to agree with the goals of GNU, it only
requires one to heed to the policies specified by the GNU Project.

E.g., my main development machine runs MS-Windows, but that doesn't
mean the GNU Project endorsed Microsoft when it appointed me, or that
I somehow "betray" GNU.

So I think you misunderstand the basic nature of the relationship
between the GNU Project and the developers of the projects' software.

> Personally, I think requiring any sort of registration to report a bug
> is so inconsiderate that we just shouldn't do it.

We don't require it.  I said that most people will not need to
register, that's all.  I do understand how this could be an obstacle
for those who don't already have an account, and would be much happier
if this obstacle didn't exist.  But saying that we somehow endorse
whatever services can be used instead of registering is IMO a far cry
from the reality of the GNU Project's relationship with its software
developers and contributors.