Re: to what extent is the gnu project philosophical?

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Andy,

Andy Wingo <wingo@pobox.com> skribis:

> The realm of ideas pertains to the FSF: theory, organization, advocacy,
> and so on.
>
> GNU, on the other hand, is about action in the software domain: the
> construction of an ever-growing software commons, putting the theory of
> the FSF into practice, and lending validity to the FSF's work.

I view it that way, too.

The two aspects are still very much intertwined.  On several occasions,
when working on technical issues in Guix or on the Hurd, I’ve seen
people take a step back and wonder about the implications of these
issues on the freedom and empowerment of their users.  I think GNU is
quite unique in that respect, and to me that’s a defining feature of
GNU.

I think some of the articles under philosophy/ are very much “GNU”
because they help set a vision for technical work we’re doing.  Some
might be policy, like Mark wrote, and others might be more general
advocacy articles that are rather “on the FSF side.”

Overall, I think advocacy work as done by the FSF and development work
done by GNU are different in nature.  Clarifying this might be one of
the tasks to define a new GNU-and-FSF relationship.

Thanks,
Ludo’.