Re: [address@hidden: What's GNU -- and what's not]

[Carlo Wood]

On Thu, 06 Feb 2020 01:36:07 -0500
ams@gnu.org (Alfred M. Szmidt) wrote:

> The GNU Project is sending this message to each GNU package 
> maintainer.
> 
> You may have recently received an email asking you to review a
> document titled "GNU Social Contract" and then to endorse it or reject
> it.  It does not entirely accord with the GNU Project's views.  It was
> created by some GNU participants who are trying to push changes
> on the GNU Project.

I stand by RMS for obvious reasons.
If he says this is a bad thing, then it is a bad thing.
Hence I reject it (actually, I just ignore it) and move
on to other things.

Have a good day,
Carlo Wood (author of countless GPL-ed things)

> 
> The message also proposed to "define" what it means to be a "member of
> GNU", and cited a web page presented as a "wiki for GNU maintainers",
> It may have given the impression that they were doing all those things
> on behalf of the GNU Project.  That is not the case.  The document, 
> the
> wiki, and the proposed idea of "members" have no standing in the GNU
> Project, which is not considering such steps.  The use of a domain not
> affiliated with GNU reflects this fact.
> 
> GNU package maintainers have committed to do work to maintain and add
> to the GNU system, but not anything beyond that.  We have never
> pressed contributors to endorse the GNU Project philosophy, or any
> other philosophical views, because people are welcome to contribute to
> GNU regardless of their views.
> 
> To change that -- to impose such requirements -- would be radical,
> gratuitous, and divisive, so the GNU Project is not entertaining the
> idea.  Likewise, we will not ask package maintainers to be "members"
> instead of volunteers.  If you contribute to GNU, you are already a
> member of the GNU community.
> 
> The wiki that they set up "for GNU maintainers" represents them, not
> the GNU Project.  People are always free to publish what they think
> the GNU Project should do, but should not presume it will be accepted
> or followed by the GNU Project.
> 



-- 
Carlo Wood <carlo@alinoe.com>