I'll bite again...
On Mon, 30 Oct 2017, David McMackins wrote:
I never said that we should reject FreeDOS because it lacks an
FSF-approved compiler.
There are some who would (I think Debian puts it into a separate category
because of the compiler issue...and Debian tends to be even more hardcore
about this "software freedom" thing than even the FSF, for what it's
worth).
I'm just saying that your particular reason for not being concerned
about it lacks substance. I think the real argument to be made against
trying to change now is the fact that this is a niche system and simply
will not attract the number of developers required to make that a
reality. It's an argument of feasibility, not principle, and I accept
that.
I think that's pretty much where FreeDOS stands.
The other alternative would be to ditch C altogether and go with ASM
(since I *know* there's assemblers that fit the bill), but it's way too
late to do THAT, and I don't think anyone who has the capability to do so
is bothered enough to go that far (though to be fair, if someone WERE to
try to create a free DOS clone - even just the rudiments like the kernel
and command.com and such - completely in ASM and try to make it
functionally equivalent in those parts to at least MS-DOS 3.3, I'd offer
any support I could to such a project, since I've wanted to do a "trim
the fat" DOS clone for years and years).
It has obviously been a goal for FreeDOS to be a fully free system, and
what's a free system if it has proprietary dependencies? I was made
aware of the -m16 flag, didn't know how new it was, and I asked the
people on this list who are more knowledgeable about building software
for DOS than I am if it would work. I am willing to accept that it's not
feasible to make a new compiler, but that doesn't mean we ought to be
fully content, that's all.
Even GNU started with proprietary dependencies, until first there was GCC,
and then Linux - though there was more motivation to get off those
dependencies, because of the *other* kind of free.
-uso.
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