From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Proposal for an Emacs User Survey Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:53:21 -0400 Message-ID: References: <30addebe-999b-c1cc-a8d8-27aba3fac566@gmx.com> <4a1188f8-9864-54c0-ae6f-5f32102d9757@gmx.com> <20201011073553.GA6784@odonien.localdomain> <20201011120840.GC2923@protected.rcdrun.com> <20201011125031.GC6784@odonien.localdomain> <20201012050418.GZ2923@protected.rcdrun.com> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Utf-8 Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="10716"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: bugs@gnu.support, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: thibaut.verron@gmail.com Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Tue Oct 13 05:54:18 2020 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1kSBOD-0002ei-5i for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Tue, 13 Oct 2020 05:54:17 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:46566 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kSBOC-0005bs-6M for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:54:16 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:60806) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kSBNK-0004m4-Pb for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:53:22 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]:56130) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kSBNK-0004Ch-E2; Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:53:22 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1kSBNJ-0004rW-9w; Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:53:21 -0400 In-Reply-To: (message from Thibaut Verron on Mon, 12 Oct 2020 07:33:27 +0200) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 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-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:257515 Archived-At: [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] > I don't understand why a question in a survey would be seen as a > recommendation. Simply mentioning MELPA encourages people to think we consider it legitimate. We do not! And it defeats our goals if people think that we do. MELPA contains programs that depend on, that require installation of, various nonfree programs. Thus, it leads people to install those. This encourages injustice -- the injustice of those nonfree programs. Most Emacs users have probably never thought about this issue. They take for granted that nonfree programs are legitimate, they believe everyone considers them legitimate, and they assume we do too. It is important to educate these people that the GNU Project does not agree with "everyone" on this. Some Emacs users have though about this but were not convinced, and then they probably dropped the question from their thoughts. If we treat MELPA as if it were as legitimate as the free archives, they will be encouraged in considering it as legitimate as the free archives. Perhaps we should do something to show them what the issue is. Perhaps with text like this: ====================================================================== GNU Emacs is part of the GNU operating system. The GNU Project aims to escape, then replace, all nonfree software with freedom-respecting free software. We maintain an Emacs package archive that consists of free packages that can run in a free environment. There is another Emacs package archive called Melpa which distributes packages require the user to install some nonfree programs. That practice is harmful because it encourages the installation of those nonfree programs, and that works against our goal -- it prioritizes short-term convenience over freedom. Rather than prioritize short-term convenience over freedom, we normally avoid mentioning that Malpa exists. As a special exception, we mentioned it in a question in this survey, to get data about its use. That does not mean we have changed our minds about our criticism of Melpa. ====================================================================== How about that? -- Dr Richard Stallman Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org) Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org) Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)