[task #15792] Submission of libre-sapienza

[Ineiev]

Follow-up Comment #5, task #15792 (project administration):

[comment #4 comment #4:]
> I don't know much about the Infostud server software, but it probably falls
in one of the two following cases:
...
> 2) it is developed by some third party, like a private company; in that case
it might be free or proprietary for the university.

Quite right.

> But I think it really doesn't matter. 

For the purpose of Savannah hosting, it does.

> My client talks with this server using HTTP requests and JSON responses,
which are standard protocols. The server is not a *dependency* of my software,
because my software is cabable of running fully without the server; the
server's job is to provide answers and some services to the client using some
kind of protocol or convention. 

Just running isn't sufficient; it should do its full job.

Without a server, it would be similar to a shell script with the first line
like 


#! /usr/bin/pcb


I can run the script, but when the shell loads it and doesn't find
/usr/bin/pcb, the execution of the script is over.

> For the same reason you wouldn't say that a web browser depends on a web
server, and by the way there are free web servers and proprietary web servers.


I wouldn't say that because I can use a typical web browser locally, feeding
it with files; if I couldn't, then I would say that it depends on a web server
(in which case having free web servers would address the potential issue).

> You wouldn't say either that the Telegram client depends on proprietary
software, even though the only Telegram server available is proprietary.

If the server were proprietary, I would; but as far as I understand, it's more
likely to fall into the category of private free software.

> There's also another ethical point: if you enroll at this university, right
now you are *forced* to use a proprietary client in order to progress in your
academic career, for example to try exams and pay tuitions. 
> My client would try to provide some of these features as a free replacement
(while some other features would be really difficult to replace for technical
reasons). So it would make a substantial difference for the freedom of many
people.

Whether your software is ethical or not is a different issue.

Re-impementing a proprietary software system part by part as free  software is
good, but Savannah doesn't provide hosting for such projects.

Likewise, any free software package is basically ethical, but Savannah
requires more strict placement of copyright and license notices than just
necessary to make the package free.

    _______________________________________________________

Reply to this item at:

  <https://savannah.nongnu.org/task/?15792>

_______________________________________________
  Message sent via Savannah
  https://savannah.nongnu.org/