Re: [ELPA] New package: repology.el

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 08 Jan 2021 13:56:40 +0000
> CC: emacs-tangents@gnu.org, rms@gnu.org, ulm@gentoo.org, ams@gnu.org,
>   arthur.miller@live.com, dgutov@yandex.ru
> From: Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>
> 
> Does that mean you wish to exclusively include repology.el into GNU ELPA?
> 
> Like you can't use that package without including it in GNU ELPA? Can you use 
> website directly?
> 
> I can.
> 
> What is real problem there?

I thought it was obvious.  Since it's evidently isn't, let me cross
the t's and dot the i's for you:

We develop Emacs because we think it helps users.  We don't develop it
as some academic exercise to be shown in some ivory tower, nor as
merely an example of what Free Software can become.

I came to Emacs because it helped me do my everyday's work, and I've
taken upon myself the burden of being its maintainer because I want it
to help others, and become better at helping them.

Thus, whether I personally can access that site is immaterial.  I
don't need your, or anybody's, permission to do whatever I want with
my systems.  It's the Emacs user community that I'm trying to help,
and I believe I'm not the only one who needs to do those tasks that I
described.  Refusal to make this, or any other package that has the
similar audacity of showing information about software in a completely
neutral way, to be available from GNU ELPA diminishes from the
community, and thus hurts me in my effort to help the community
members to enjoy software freedom.  That is why I'm speaking up.