Re: [GNU-linux-libre] MAME

[J.B. Nicholson]

Felipe Sanches wrote:
> Such museum (without any ROM file) is now fully free, regardless of
> what you might attempt to do with it at runtime after compiling it.

Practical emulator usage requires some program to run, and in MAME's case 
those programs are nonfree perhaps with a few exceptions.

> The source code is the most important portion of the MAME project,
> because it is though the source code that the goal of "preserving the
> history of gaming and computing hardware" is achieved. The runtime
> binaries tend to be seen as a mere collateral effect of the hardware
> documentation efforts (also providing evidence that the hw
> documentation is probably accurate).

I think it's important not to conflate goals. Despite reaching the goals 
MAME's developers set out for MAME, why should MAME be included as part of 
an FSF-approved free software distribution 
(https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html) when 
practical usage appears to violate the requirement that "A free system 
distribution must not steer users towards obtaining any nonfree information 
for practical use, or encourage them to do so."?

If MAME's practical use can't meet this requirement, MAME's description on 
https://libreplanet.org/wiki/List_of_software_that_does_not_respect_the_Free_System_Distribution_Guidelines#MAME 
should change to something that explains MAME "steer[s or encourages] users 
towards obtaining nonfree information for practical use".