On Sat, Nov 23 2013, to_delete wrote: > Hi, > > This is a bit OT, but it might be of interest here, too. > > I don't know whether you follow the GnuPG mailing lists, but in case you > missed it: there has been a dispute between Richard Stallman and Werner > Koch on a license change for the GNU Privacy Handbook (GPH). >> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/gnupg/doc/63276?page=last > > I don't know them personally, but usually their wording in the mailing > lists is much more balanced; however in this case, there's been things > said that make me very concerned about the future of GnuPG, like >> Werner: >> I have always spoken out in favor of the GNU project - maybe now is >> the time to reconsider. > > Currently it seems that the discussion has stopped without solution (or > maybe the "solution" to rewrite the documentation from scratch. IMHO not > a real solution). > > To me, GnuPG is a key infrastructure component (same as Tor and the GNU > Project) and it makes me concerned, that RMS and WK seem to have a > personal conflict (as the arguments very quickly rose to a personal level). > > What do you think on that situation? Is there a possibility to bring > them back to the round table, or otherwise solve the problem? > > I don't want to post this on the GnuPG list, as it could look like > voting for one side. Maybe, what I want to achieve is that people who > are in closer contact with RMS/WK know about the issue and talk to them. > Of course I didn't ask RMS nor WK whether they would accept (or need) a > third party to mediate. > > Both sides have reasonable arguments for their positions and personally, > I don't feel authorized enough to vote for one side.
RMS is a war general: great to have around for a fledgling movement constantly under threat of destruction, but a liability after you've won the war. Werner is right to consider breaking ties with the FSF, but whichever way things go, I don't think GnuPG is under threat. And even if it somehow went away, there are alternative implementations such as NetPGP that have far less restrictive licenses, not to mention actually being a LIBRARY instead of a monolithic command line tool. RMS is an extremist and always has been. If anything, the success of the free software movement has only hardened his views. I think it's a waste of time to try to get him to negotiate. I say this even as an avid Emacs user. -- Sean Richard Lynch <[email protected]> http://www.literati.org/~seanl/ -- tor-talk mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe or change other settings go to https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk
