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>> Yes, the F.S.F. has decided that those four freedoms are the only fundamental ones to care about and calls it some absolute semantic of freedom. >> Anyone c

>> Yes, the F.S.F. has decided that those four freedoms are the only fundamental ones to care about and calls it some absolute semantic of freedom. >> Anyone can decree that one of those is not important, or add a fifth. Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish. (Access to the source code is a precondition for this.) Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others. Freedom 3: The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. (Access to the source code is a precondition for this.) Which freedoms do you disagree with and why? What freedoms are missing that you would like to see added? >> The G.C.C. had to be given a licence exception for the runtime it links against, otherwise arguably anything compiled with it would become a derivative product of it, and thus subject to the G.P.L. You are conflating GCC as free software with software created using GCC as a compiler. The runtime exception has been in place for quite a while and is part of the reason why GCC is very widely used. I would argue that the four freedoms are also part of the reason why GCC has been so successful.

Blikkentrekker 5y ago
> Which freedoms do you disagree with and why? > What freedoms are missing that you would like to see added? I am not so small a mind to be concerned with semantics debates and the definition of “freedom”. Purely in the sense of what I personally desire, as in rational egotism, I would wish for all software to exist for me free of charge, with all source code available, with a copious options system, and that it be written in a programming language I am competent in and follows the style guides I find easiest to reaed. That is a wish, not a moral dogma; moral dogmata are Stallman's domain and I consider any man who would seriously believe that things can be morally right or wrong to be of quæstionable rationality. > You are conflating GCC as free software with software created using GCC as a compiler. I'm doing no such thing; I'm simply pointing out that the G.C.C. would probably not be free software without the exception. > The runtime exception has been in place for quite a while and is part of the reason why GCC is very widely used. > I would argue that the four freedoms are also part of the reason why GCC has been so successful. I'm fairly certain it's the biggest reason is simply that it's a very good and gratis compiler.
DangitBobby 5y ago
How to change it to be more free? Modify 3. So that access to source code is not a pre-condition. I will never make anything from modified GPL because of the way it chooses to restrict my freedom.

Blikkentrekker 5y ago

> Which freedoms do you disagree with and why? > What freedoms are missing that you would like to see added? I am not so small a mind to be concerned with semantics debates and the definition of “freedom”. Purely in the sense of what I personally desire, as in rational egotism, I would wish for all software to exist for me free of charge, with all source code available, with a copious options system, and that it be written in a programming language I am competent in and follows the style guides I find easiest to reaed. That is a wish, not a moral dogma; moral dogmata are Stallman's domain and I consider any man who would seriously believe that things can be morally right or wrong to be of quæstionable rationality. > You are conflating GCC as free software with software created using GCC as a compiler. I'm doing no such thing; I'm simply pointing out that the G.C.C. would probably not be free software without the exception. > The runtime exception has been in place for quite a while and is part of the reason why GCC is very widely used. > I would argue that the four freedoms are also part of the reason why GCC has been so successful. I'm fairly certain it's the biggest reason is simply that it's a very good and gratis compiler.

DangitBobby 5y ago

How to change it to be more free? Modify 3. So that access to source code is not a pre-condition. I will never make anything from modified GPL because of the way it chooses to restrict my freedom.