1:54 p.m.
Hi Ludo,
On Tue, 2021-04-20 at 15:16 +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
Thoughts?
I like all the changes made.
We could aim to publish it later today or tomorrow if there are no
more comments.
Two more nitpicks.
# Meta-question: why so much confusion around GNU/FSF?
Good question! A common belief is that GNU and the Free Software
Foundation (FSF) are the same thing. This is untrue: GNU is not a
registered non-profit, it’s an informal association among contributors,
separate from the FSF. The FSF is oblivious to technical matters in
GNU.
The FSF supports GNU development primarily in three ways: by taking care
of copyright assignments (for the few GNU packages that require it), as
a [fiscal sponsor](https://www.fsf.org/working-together/fund) for a few
projects, and by providing infrastructure like
[Savannah](https://savannah.gnu.org). For the most part, the FSF
“supports GNU development” in the same way that Microsoft “supports” the
development of projects hosted on GitHub.
I think this is missing that the FSF is the projects legal guardian
(copyright assignments is just part of that), there are various legal
challenges that the FSF helps with (patents, copyright disputes,
guidance one resources/code/specifications that can be used, being the
legal representatives for projects that need some service contract or
work for hire to be done, etc.)
Please just drop the Microsoft/GitHub analogy. The analogy isn't really
accurate. It doesn't really make things more clear, just invites
speculation how that analogy really works.
# Is this backed by FSF/OSI/SFC/XYZ?
No, it’s not! The Assembly was founded by GNU maintainers and
contributors and receive no support, financial or otherwise, from any
three-letter-acronym organization. Evil Corp™ isn’t helping either.
# Is this _against_ FSF/OSI/SFC/XYZ?
Nope! The Assembly is not a _reaction_ to the three-letter acronym of
your choice—it’s first and foremost a _constructive_ project.
Is it at odds with the three-letter acronym you have in mind? Maybe!
But we’re interested in _building_ something more than in arguing about
what others are doing.
I don't like the tone/wording of this. It is also vague what exactly
the question is. First OSI is different from the FSF and SFC in that
they are not an umbrella organization for Free Software projects. You
might want to replace it with SPI (and drop the XYZ) then at least it
is a consistent set of 3-letter acronyms.
Then Evil Copr is "funny" but not really helping here either. Why is it
even in there? Are you answering a different question?
I think the question is something like:
# Is the GNU Assembly and initiative of the FSF/SPI/SFC or a specific
corporate interest?
No, it’s not! The Assembly was founded by GNU maintainers and
contributors and receive no support, financial or otherwise, from any
organization at this time. We did talk to the FSF to get support, but
they have ignored us for the last couple of years. At the moment the
initiative uses the resources of the individuals listed. We will
publicly list anybody or any organization that provides us with
resources to be completely transparent.
Cheers,
Mark