Re: [jcasey@gnu.org: Free Software Foundation Database]
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>>>>> "J" == J H M Dassen (Ray) <jhm@cistron.nl> writes:
J> On Wed, May 17, 2000 at 11:54:20 -0400, Janet Casey wrote:
>> A "GNU package" is one which has been reviewed by our evaluators, and for
>> which the rights have been assigned to the FSF. You can contact Richard
>> Stallman at rms@gnu.org if you think you might be interested.
J> The FSF database looks like a fine extension to the FSF
J> website, but I'd personally would love to see it extend beyond
J> the restriction to packages whose rights have been assigned to
J> the FSF to free software packages in general, so that it could
J> list software like the PostgreSQL RDBMS and numerous tools
J> common on Linux systems, like sysvinit, bsdutils and the X
J> Window System.
Especially since X *is* listed on www.gnu.org/software/software.html!
Oh, and PostgreSQL ain't... but luckily there's GNU SQL[1].
Generally, I feel that the FSF and the GNU project go a little
overboard sometimes with their "We want our *own* version of this"
mentality.[2]
J> This would make it a good alternative to freshmeat.net, which
J> is currently a very useful database of free(ish) software, but
J> which unfortunately doesn't allow one to restrict searches to
J> free software and is itself maintained on a non-free database
J> (mySQL).
An alternative to freshmeat that puts a stronger emphasis on Free
Software is a Very Good Thing IMHO.[4]
Bye, J
[1] Which seems to be pretty dead to me BTW... latest (alpha|beta)
version is from Sep '98. Could you tell me (us) whether this
assessment is correct, Janet? Or get this mail to someone who knows?
[2] While looking for a GNU SQL tarball[3], I stumbled over
gnussl... with a datestamp from 96. Is it dead yet? OpenSSL is free,
and actively developed. Only it's not GNU...
[3] The non-gnu.org site referred back at ftp.gnu.org for stable
releases... but there weren't any. So I went back and finally landed
at alpha.gnu.org... the latest release *there* is 0.7b5.3 from Apr 97!
(So alpha doesn't even carry the latest alpha...) Weird.
[4] I track freshmeat in a local PostgreSQL database so it informs me
of new apps, and tracks new releases of apps I'm interested in. And I
find it really annoying to read of some very cool-sounding app and the
having to realize it being non-free...
PS: I'm not saying all this to slam anyone (not the FSF, not GNU,
especially not the people behind it). I'm just voicing my concerns as
a concerned netizen... and an avid fan of Free Software (and the GPL'd
variant thereof). I worried, actually...
PPS: I think I should volunteer to help clean up this mess
some... though I'm not sure where to go and who to ask (I'm not even
sure I *could* help...)
- --
Jürgen A. Erhard eMail: jae@ilk.de phone: (GERMANY) 0721 27326
MARS: http://members.tripod.com/Juergen_Erhard/mars_index.html
"Outside of a dog, a man's best friend is a book;
inside of a dog, it's very dark." -- Groucho Marx
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