Re: master 871c027: Revert "* doc/emacs/ack.texi (Acknowledgments): Remove now deleted files."

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2020 13:17:36 -0400
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> Stefan Kangas wrote:
> 
> >   @c Remove things that are no longer distributed.
> 
> For the record, that was the policy requested by rms years ago:
> 
> https://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-devel/2008-12/msg00697.html

Richard said they _can_ be deleted.  He didn't say they _must_ be
deleted.  Something that _can_ be done isn't a policy, not even a
request.

> (Personally I see no value in keeping descriptions of things that aren't
> in Emacs any more in ack.texi.

ack.texi doesn't describe the files, it describes the contributions of
those who wrote those files.  If someone made a contribution and we
delete the reference to that, the name of that person disappears from
the Emacs's hall of fame.  I see no reason for this ingratitude.  It
isn't like these references take up significant place or put some
burden on the maintainers (quite the opposite: the policy of removing
references of deleted files adds to maintenance burden).

> I would of course keep the names in the emacs.texi Acknowledgments
> section, although see my comment at the start of that section about
> whether the whole thing should be removed for AUTHORS.

The question where to keep the acknowledgments is IMO secondary; if
someone thinks it would be better to have ack.texi on a separate file,
I don't mind.  What's important to me is to keep the information about
people's contributions to Emacs.  This is our history and our legacy,
an integral part of our community.  We should know our heroes and what
they did for Emacs.