Re: Proposal for an Emacs User Survey

[Thibaut Verron]

Le ven. 16 oct. 2020 à 17:51, Alfred M. Szmidt <ams@gnu.org> a écrit :
>
>    > > And picking on 2-3 "ideologically impure" packages (out of several
>    > > thousands!) that are distributed on MELPA is counter-productive.
>    >
>    > We could turn this argument around and ask why the developers who
>    > maintain MELPA don't remove `2-3' packages that promote non-free
>    > software.
>
>    I sincerely hope it doesn't happen.
>
> We should all hope that it does, since such software is bad, one way
> that is being done is with the non-GNU ELPA archive.

I hope that once the non-GNU Elpa archive exists, those non-free
packages will still live on Melpa, and will die their just death,
once, and not before, a free alternative exists.

>
>    Also, is the goal of the GNU project to deny users the right to run
>    the software they want or need? Or is it to give them a choice of
>    free options to replace non-free software?
>
> The goal of the GNU project is to replace all non-free sofware, since
> any non-free software is unjust.  That means, we do not want to
> recommend users to install any kind of non-free software.
>
> This isn't the same thing as prohibiting users what they can do on
> their own accord, but rather that the project goal is to eliminate an
> injustice being done to all computer users.  And with that means that
> we do not want to do anything that would work against our goals.

The message I was answering to suggested asking the maintainers of
Melpa to remove some packages.

This is not about what the FSF and the GNU project do or don't do, or
even recommend, this is about telling an Emacs user what to put in
their privately maintained repository.