Re: [Savannah-hackers] Re: freesoftware.fsf.org: the issue that will not die

[Bradley M. Kuhn]

Rudy Gevaert <address@hidden> wrote:

> I would like to point out that when I should have read "nongnu" without
> knowing about "gnu" and "nongnu" projects I would have thought that the
> projects have nothing to do with free software.

> It seems (to me) that nongnu is against gnu :)

I certainly see that point.  However, we might want to see this as a
chance to educate.  Many people are confused about what it means to be a
GNU package.  They often don't realize that it requires an ethical
commitment to a set of principles.  This is why we find many programs
that have started to call themselves "GNU Foo" without even writing to us.

I actually think using nongnu.org in this way will help to educate people
that "things can be "not part of GNU" but still Free Software -- and
still GPL'ed even".

To help clarify this, we probably will want to improve the text that
currently says "This package is not part of the GNU project".  Maybe it
should say "This package is not part of the GNU project, but it is still
Free Software released under the Foo license."

And, those that now say "This package is part of the GNU project" should
probably say "This package is part of the GNU project; read this document
to see what that means", and it could link to some statement of GNU
project principles.


Rudy, would those changes address your concerns?

   -- bkuhn

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