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Re: redisplay system of emacs


From: grischka
Subject: Re: redisplay system of emacs
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:48:12 +0100
User-agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 (Windows/20090812)

David Kastrup wrote:
> Since only explicitly FSF copyright-assigned contributions can be used
> in Emacs, Emacs' involvement in the "free software ecosystem" as such is
> purely contributing, not taking.

Emacs is contributing in the sense of providing a swiss knife to
produce free software, but not in the sense of being free software.
For that it would need to be modular.

One could imagine a modular emacs consisting of a lisp engine that
could be used without the editor, a display module that can be used
without windows/frames, an UI module that would allow to build
standalone applications.  That is applications with emacs under the
hood, as opposed to the one emacs with many applications under the
hood.

But as is, emacs comes with an implicit structural clause to its
license, as in "[You may convey a work based on the Program, ...]
BUT WE DO OUR BEST TO PREVENT THAT."

Well, that is how I see it.  Technical and structural reasons are
real, and if in practice such reasons prevent distribution of
modified versions, then the license becomes pointless.

Now, of course the problem exists elsewhere too.  People may or may
not be aware, and may or may not address it, in this or that way.

--- grischka





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