From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Paul Smith Subject: Re: (Really) Free Software future Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2019 15:11:38 -0400 Message-ID: <29abce622e3be3ca224d7010993182ef8203943c.camel@gnu.org> References: <20191009065352.GU8197@protected.rcdrun.com> <1c9dc59c-0594-6921-73e8-b173e558b5c3@vapaa.xyz> <20191010023714.GK20430@protected.rcdrun.com> <6343757.2cZvDvYTfs@pc-713> <20191010061705.GH27628@protected.rcdrun.com> <20191010070606.GW27628@protected.rcdrun.com> <8561e1505c3d90c4deb8bdbfb1a20dced6e96066.camel@gnu.org> <3fe3d102-194d-8872-61ef-45337357ca4a@vapaa.xyz> Reply-To: psmith@gnu.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: In-Reply-To: <3fe3d102-194d-8872-61ef-45337357ca4a@vapaa.xyz> List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: gnu-system-discuss-bounces+gcgs-gnu-system-discuss=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "gnu-system-discuss" To: Alexander Vdolainen , svante.signell@gmail.com, Richard Stallman Cc: Guix-devel , gnu-system-discuss@gnu.org List-Id: guix-devel.gnu.org On Mon, 2019-10-14 at 21:32 +0300, Alexander Vdolainen wrote: > > For example, no aspect of either GNOME or systemd are proprietary, > > using the common meaning of the term. Also, "lock-in" usually refers > > to software that prevents users from switching to an alternative; GNOME > > and systemd are certainly not lock-in. > > I'm afraid but I cannot agree with that. Actually with systemd design > you have 'lock-in', because in some cases you need to modify a source > code to support systemd (or you will face something like this - > https://superuser.com/questions/1372963/how-do-i-keep-systemd-from-killing-my-tmux-sessions). It's not lock-in because you don't have to use systemd. You can take a system that currently uses systemd and you can remove it and replace it with something else. It may be more or less effort, depending, but you _can_ do it, without violating licenses or losing access to any of your personal data. If you consider systemd "lock-in" then you *must* consider something like GNU libc "lock-in"; it's far more difficult to replace your libc than it is to switch away from systemd! > Finally, correct me if I wrong, but GNOME 3.8 and newer requires > systemd to run, it's a lock-in isn't it ? No, because you don't need to run GNOME. You can't consider software "lock-in" just because it requires some other software, as long as you don't have to use either one. And you can't consider some software non-free just because it requires other free software: a large majority of free programs out there rely on some other free libraries for example. Anyway, as I said this thread should be moved to gnu-misc-discuss.