On Sun, Aug 03, 2003 at 05:08:36PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: > Anyway, even if this was the 'solution', we still *must* kick the GCC > and GNU Emacs manuals out of main. > > I don't understand why that hasn't been done yet. Cowardice, and the (apparently) delusional belief that further negotiation with the FSF on this issue will be fruitful. I am pretty sure now that the best way to budge the FSF from its deference to RMS on this subject is to encourage a defection from the GNU FDL by the contributors to the GNU Project. In other words, while explusion of the GNU FDL-licensed material from Debian main may be the only ethical course of action left to us, I don't think it of itself will be sufficient to get the problems with the GNU FDL to figure prominently in the FSF's field of view. Morever, I question whether the FSF holds an institutional belief that the Debian Project really represents a significant portion of the Free Software community. They've ignored Debian before and they can do it again. So, while I encourage the course of action you are proposing, I do not think it is wise for people to hold the belief that Debian throwing down the gauntlet will be the straw that breaks the gnu's back on this issue. People should not support this action because they believe it will lead to an immediate resolution that will result in a DFSG-free GNU Emacs manual ending up back in main shortly afterwards. While that's an outcome to be earnestly hoped for, it's not one to be counted on, in my opinion. Furthermore, taking this action with such a goal would be close to take it to spite the FSF; and since, in my judgment, the onerous clauses of the GNU FDL primarily exist to spite Tim O'Reilly, it would be hypocritical for us to act with that motivation. -- G. Branden Robinson | A celibate clergy is an especially Debian GNU/Linux | good idea, because it tends to branden@debian.org | suppress any hereditary propensity http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | toward fanaticism. -- Carl Sagan
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