www/philosophy javascript-trap.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       16/01/07 20:50:39

Modified files:
        philosophy     : javascript-trap.html 

Log message:
        Explain the special case of a JS program that exists for its own sake,
        not as a way to make a certain page function.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/javascript-trap.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.50&r2=1.51

Patches:
Index: javascript-trap.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/javascript-trap.html,v
retrieving revision 1.50
retrieving revision 1.51
diff -u -b -r1.50 -r1.51
--- javascript-trap.html        1 Jan 2016 10:25:11 -0000       1.50
+++ javascript-trap.html        7 Jan 2016 20:50:38 -0000       1.51
@@ -38,21 +38,27 @@
 modifying it; the compacted code is not source code, and the real
 source code of this program is not available to the user.</p>
 
-<p>Browsers don't normally tell you when they load JavaScript programs.
-Most browsers have a way to turn off JavaScript entirely, but none of
-them can check for JavaScript programs that are nontrivial and
-nonfree.  Even if you're aware of this issue, it would take you
-considerable trouble to identify and then block those programs.
+<p>Browsers don't normally tell you when they load JavaScript
+programs.  Some browsers have a way to turn off JavaScript entirely,
+but even if you're aware of this issue, it would take you considerable
+trouble to identify the nontrivial nonfree programs and block them.
 However, even in the free software community most users are not aware
 of this issue; the browsers' silence tends to conceal it.</p>
 
 <p>It is possible to release a JavaScript program as free software, by
-distributing the source code under a free software license.  But even
-if the program's source is available, there is no easy way to run your
-modified version instead of the original.  Current free browsers do
-not offer a facility to run your own modified version instead of the
-one delivered in the page.  The effect is comparable to tivoization,
-although not quite so hard to overcome.</p>
+distributing the source code under a free software license.  If the
+program is self-contained&mdash;if its functioning and purpose are
+independent of the page it came in&mdash;that is fine; you can copy it
+to a file on your machine, modify it, and visit that file with a
+browser to run it.  But that is an unusual case.</p>
+
+<p>In the usual case, JavaScript programs are meant to work with a
+particular page or site, and the page or site depends on them to
+function.  Then another problem arises: even if the program's source
+is available, browsers do not offer a way to run your modified version
+instead of the original when visiting that page or site.  The effect
+is comparable to tivoization, although in principle not quite so hard
+to overcome.</p>
 
 <p>JavaScript is not the only language web sites use for programs sent to
 the user.  Flash supports programming through an extended variant of
@@ -298,7 +304,7 @@
 
 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2016/01/01 10:25:11 $
+$Date: 2016/01/07 20:50:38 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>