Re: [OT] GNU - Linux and Debian.......
On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 04:27:05PM EDT, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > I'm not sure the GNU project produces the majority of Debian, by
> > any metric.
>
> I'm pretty sure it doesn't, because by and large "the GNU project"
> doesn't produce any software. It provides technical, philosophical,
> ethical, and political support to help and encourage the development and
> use of Free Software.
>
> Part of that is to provide hosting services for some projects (on
> savannah.gnu.org), but that usually doesn't count as "producing".
>
> A GNU software package basically is a software whose author(s) have
> decided they'd like to see their name associated with the "GNU", either
> because they want to show their support for the GNU movement, or because
> they want their software to benefit from the GNU "brand" and get some
> publicity from it, or because they wanted to use the savannah.gnu.org
> hosting service, or somesuch.
>
> Of course, some software authors might be considered as "GNU coder"
> either because they have gotten some money from the FSF at some point,
> or because they've spent enormous amounts of efforts writing code almost
> exclusively for GNU software.
>
> What the GNU project has done is give a name and a visibility, defined
> a set of guidelines (and licenses) and created the expectations that
> define both the Open Source and the Free Software movement. It's thanks
> to the GNU project that we don't have to suffer nearly as much from
> "somewhat Free" licenses (like the idiotic freeware, which still plagues
> the Windows world) because people find them nowadays completely
> unacceptable. So the GNU project has shaped the world which made Debian
> possible, and in this sense can be credited just as much for GNU
> packages as for those packages which do not put "GNU" next to their name
> (and even for those who refuse the GPL and/or consider the FSF as
> dangerous lunatics).
>
>
> Stefan
Enlightening post. Thank you.
CJ
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