Re: Emacs Mini Manual (PART 3) - CUSTOMIZING AND EXTENDING EMACS

[Bob Proulx]

Emanuel Berg wrote:
> Well, this is actually not the case as was recently
> discussed in another thread. With 'info Emacs' I get
> the Emacs FAQ, not the manual. There was mention of
> some bad blood between the Emacs people and the Debian
> people, who considered the Emacs manual non-free (no idea
> why).

The problem can be summarized as the manual used a non-free license
with the hope that it would encourage a print shop to print and sell
physical copies of the manual.  But the result is one of unintended
consequences.  Instead of encouraging documentation proliferation it
has the opposite of restricting the flow of it.

Please see this for the details of the reasons.

  http://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_001

> I have of course access to the non-free repos, but
> there is no emacs-doc like with gcc which documentation
> (the manpage) Debian also has issues with.
> 
> Wait - I think I got it, it is probably
> emacs24-common-non-dfsg, right? DFSG is "Debian Free
> Software Guidelines".

Right.  emacs24-common-non-dfsg is the package.  Simply install it
from the non-free section.

It is sad that two of the most freedom promoting organizations are at
opposite ends of this documentation issue.  Both are principled.  But
with slightly different principles.

> Well, should and should... I'm not going to read it on
> the screen by the computer, that's for sure.

I do read most of the documentation on the screen.  However I don't
find it as good as a printed book.  Therefore I have a *lot* of
printed books!

> Alright, I'll do it. I know you contributed to it so
> I'll just blame you for everything I don't like. But
> actually I think I'll like all or most of it.

I am still chuckling over this comment of yours.  Nicely done.  :-)

Bob