Re: could matlab-mode be in ELPA or the GNU emacs tree (like auctex and org-mode)?

[Jean Louis]

* Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> [2021-11-22 05:30]:
> [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
> [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
> [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
> 
>   > I know that matlab is a commercial product and its license is not
>   > compatible with the GPL, but the same could be said about MS Windows OS
>   > and MacOS and yet GNU Emacs support these OSs.
> 
> The GNU Project has standard about what to do in situations like this.
> Its conclusion in this case is that it is ok to include Matlab mode in
> Emacs.  Likewise, ok to make Emacs run on Windows or MacOS.
> 
> See the GNU Coding Standards, node References, for the way we reason
> about questions like this.  I urge everyone here to read it.
> 
> First, what are our goals?
> We want to lead/help users of Matlab to try using Emacs.
> We want NOT to lead/help users of Emacs to try using Matlab.
> 
> In practice, I think Matlab mode will not do the latter, not much.
> It will mainly do the former.
> Why so?

Your reasoning is individual and I don't agree to that reasoning. I
cannot see how is that reasoning aligned to the references as quoted
on: https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/standards.html#References

"A GNU program should not recommend, promote, or grant legitimacy to
the use of any non-free program."

And by including `matlab-mode' would come especially that event of
recommending, promoting and granting legitimacy of the ose of non-free
Matlab.

Thus I don't agree on the proposal to include matlab-mode into GNU
ELPA neither NonGNU ELPA neither into Emacs if the matlab-mode is
specifically made to run and interact with non-free software.

Was that (packages that are made to solely interact to non-free
software) not the main reason why MELPA is not included in Emacs as
repository and why NonGNU ELPA came into existence?

- I would not even call it "matlab" as if it appears in ELPA, it
  promotes non-free software;

- if features of matlab-mode are analogous to lisp-mode, where person
  may insert same type of binary to run with it; such as for GNU
  Octave and features are not Matlab-proprietary software specific,
  then such package could be included IMHO. lisp-mode works with many
  Lisp binaries and I guess with proprietary once as well.

- if features are specific to Matlab -- there is no way I would ever
  include it to ELPA, Emacs or NonGNU ELPA; as acting based upon free
  software principles and the same reference you quoted above.


Jean

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