From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: On the subject of Git, Bazaar, and the future of Emacs development Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:07:56 -0400 Message-ID: References: <20130401202613.0b4201e3@anarchist> <87li91nmhp.fsf@gnu.org> <87ip45hseu.fsf@gmail.com> <87a9pg7mxg.fsf@floss.red-bean.com> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1365012482 5000 80.91.229.3 (3 Apr 2013 18:08:02 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 18:08:02 +0000 (UTC) Cc: jay.p.belanger@gmail.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Karl Fogel Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Apr 03 20:08:29 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1UNS6m-0004HL-93 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:08:28 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:46982 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UNS6N-0004Xw-E0 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:08:03 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:56280) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UNS6J-0004Xd-7a for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:08:01 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UNS6H-00042I-Cv for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:07:59 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::e]:42409) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UNS6H-00042E-A8 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:07:57 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UNS6G-0004AM-8I; Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:07:56 -0400 In-reply-to: <87a9pg7mxg.fsf@floss.red-bean.com> (message from Karl Fogel on Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:27:39 -0500) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Error: Malformed IPv6 address (bad octet value). X-Received-From: 2001:4830:134:3::e X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:158613 Archived-At: But I'm not crystal clear on what it means to be a GNU project, other than agreeing to say publicly "We are a GNU Project" and be licensed under the GPL. Making a program GNU software means that its developers and the GNU project agree that "This program is part of the GNU project, released under the aegis of GNU"--and say so in the program. This means that we normally put the program on ftp.gnu.org (although we can instead refer to your choice of ftp site, as long as it allows connections from anyone anywhere). This means that the official site for the program should be on www.gnu.org, specifically in /software/PROGRAMNAME. Whenever you give out the URL for the package home page, you would give this address. It is ok to use another site for secondary topics, such as pages meant for people helping develop the package, and for running data bases. (We can make an exception and put the web pages somewhere else if there is a really pressing reason.) It means that the developers agree to pay attention to making the program work well with the rest of the GNU system--and conversely that the GNU project will encourage other GNU maintainers to pay attention to making their programs fit in well with it. Just what it means to make programs work well together is mainly a practical matter that depends on what the program does. But there are a few general principles. Certain parts of the GNU coding standards directly affect the consistency of the whole system. These include the standards for configuring and building a program, and the standards for command-line options. It is important to make all GNU programs follow these standards, where they are applicable. Another important GNU standard is that GNU programs should come with documentation in Texinfo format. That is the GNU standard documentation format, and it can be converted automatically into various other formats. You can use DocBook format or another suitable format for the documentation sources, as long as converting it automatically into Texinfo gives good results. If a GNU program wants to be extensible, it should use GUILE (http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html) as the programming language for extensibility--that is the GNU standard extensibility package. For some programs there's a reason to do things differently, but please use GUILE if that is feasible. A GNU program should use the latest version of the license that the GNU Project recommends--not just any free software license. For most packages, this means using the GNU GPL. A GNU program should not recommend use of any non-free program, and it should not refer the user to any non-free documentation for free software. The campaign for free documentation to go with free software is a major focus of the GNU project (see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.html); to show that we are serious about it, we must not undermine our position by recommending documentation that isn't free. Occasionally there are issues of terminology which are important for the success of the GNU project as a whole. So we expect maintainers of GNU programs to follow them. For example, the documentation files and comments in the program should speak of GNU/Linux systems, rather than calling the whole system "Linux", and should use the term "free software" rather than "open source". Since a GNU program is released under the auspices of GNU, it should not say anything that contradicts the GNU Project's views. For a program to be GNU software does not require transferring copyright to the FSF; that is a separate question. If you transfer the copyright to the FSF, the FSF will enforce the GPL for the program if someone violates it; if you keep the copyright, enforcement will be up to you. As the GNU maintainer of the package, please make sure to stay in touch with the GNU Project. If we come across a problem relating to the package, we need to tell you about it, and to discuss with you how to solve it. Sometimes we will need to ask you to work with other maintainers to solve a problem that involves using multiple packages together. This probably will happen less than once a year, but please make sure we can contact you in case it does happen. For details on all policies and recommendations for GNU packages, please see the GNU maintainers information, at http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/, and GNU coding standards, at http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/. -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St Boston MA 02110 USA www.fsf.org www.gnu.org Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software. Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call