Re: Dependence on nonfree software

[Christopher Dimech]

---------------------
Christopher Dimech
General Administrator - Naiad Informatics - GNU Project (Geocomputation)
- Geophysical Simulation
- Geological Subsurface Mapping
- Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation
- Natural Resource Exploration and Production
- Free Software Advocacy


> Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 5:35 PM
> From: "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org>
> To: "Svetlana Tkachenko" <svetlana@members.fsf.org>
> Cc: savannah-hackers@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Dependence on nonfree software
>
>
>    Hi Alfred
>
>    Right. Replace "ecosystem" with 'More and more of the software hosted at
>    GNU Savannah'.
>
>    It seems bad enough to me, in cases when the server's latest version is
>    documented by nobody and is proprietary. Then it is only its older 
> revisions
>    that were successfully reverse engineered and "documented" by implementing
>    a free software client for them.
>
> How is that different from a latest version that is not documented,
> and free software?  After all, you don't need to provide the source
> code for the free software server program.

Use the Gnu Affero GPL and the free software server program must be
provided for users of the server software.

> I.e., it doesn't matter what the ethical state of the server program
> is.
>
>