[GNU-linux-libre] Re: any Free BSD variant?

[Yavor Doganov]

n       <address@hidden>
        <87r5xhtru9.GNU'address@hidden>
        <87r5xhtru9.GNU'address@hidden>
        <address@hidden>
        <878wjoqizu.GNU'address@hidden>
        <878wjoqizu.GNU'address@hidden>
        <address@hidden>
Mail-Followup-To: Workgroup for fully free GNU/Linux distributions
        <address@hidden>,
        address@hidden
User-Agent: Wanderlust/2.15.5 (Almost Unreal) SEMI/1.14.6 (Maruoka)
 FLIM/1.14.9 (=?ISO-8859-4?Q?Goj=F2?=) APEL/10.7 Emacs/22.3
 (i486-pc-linux-gnu) MULE/5.0 (SAKAKI)
X-Jabber-ID: address@hidden

Karl Goetz wrote:
> > Compiling Emacs and other packages is what users typically do.
> 
> I disagree here. The number of people who compile the software they run
> (even if its just one package) is tiny.

This may be true, but you are twisting the genuine definition of a
"user" through the "binary distribution" prism.  (Yes, I'm spoiled
by binary distributions, too.)

A typical free software project releases a tarball, most often
.tar.gz, .tar.bz2 or .tar.xz.  This tarball is intended for *users*
and other distributors (like distros), but if developer skills are
required to build it, then it's most certainly a bug.

The GNU Build System standardizes the build sequence and certain
features every package should have.  I consider it a good thing, and
lots of users are accustomed to this.