Re: as for Calc and the math library

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> 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.

> 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.