1:47 p.m.
On Sat, 2021-04-24 at 15:41 +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
I agree.
The reason I brought up Rust-on-Linux and systems software is that it
could help us start a discussion about one possible “tactic”. GNU is
well known and still dominant among free systems, but it’s also clear
that the musl/LLVM/Rust proponents are shaping up a vision to
displace
GNU, probably with a mixture of technical and political motivations.
I don’t think we should remain silent while Rust-on-Linux & co. catch
the headlines. Instead, I think we should articulate a vision that
keeps the user at the center, while addressing the technical concerns
that Rust folks like to brag about: security and reliability.
Consider reproducible builds and bootstrapping: these are technical
means to guarantee user freedom and security. We have a good story
to
tell and to continue with Mes¹, Guix, and the toolchain. Likewise
for
modular OSes with components running in separate address spaces.
Can the systems GNU packages join forces to articulate that vision?
Can we increase the bandwidth among those packages? IOW, can we work
so these packages are a leading example for free systems?
Thanks,
Ludo’.
¹
https://guix.gnu.org/en/blog/2020/guix-further-reduces-bootstrap-seed-to-25/
I think that to promote software freedom we must also adapt software
for other needs such as security, performance, reliability,
accessibility, ergonomy. I think that software freedom is attained also
when the software fits the users use cases and if it does then it's a
win because more users gain software freedom. I think many users are
currently barred from attaining software freedom because the software
available that provides software freedom does not fit the users use
cases or not well enough.
I very much get behind such vision and I am eager to collaborate
towards these goals.
Léo