On 11/04/2021 15:39, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
> It should remain an acronym, but it should now stand for "GCC Compiler
> Collection". That allows the project to be disassociated from the GNU
> name while still subtly acknowledging its heritage.
>
> Then it would not longer be GCC. It would be something different.
> The whole point of GCC is to provide a free software compiler for the
> GNU system and systems based on GNU, and not to be pragmatic at the
> cost of software freedom. Commercial interessts are often at odds
> with software freedom as well. This is one of the many reasons why
> the GNU project is entierly volunteer based.
>
It is decades since gcc has been /just/ a free compiler for the GNU
system. That is still an important role, of course, but the compiler's
use has vastly outgrown that area. The same applies to most of the GNU
projects.
And while I agree that commercial interests are /sometimes/ at odds with
free software, they are also essential for it - GNU would never have
existed without commercial software, and most or all of its projects
would have languished without commercial interest. (Look, for example,
at the Hurd project - it is absolutely critical to the concept of having
a complete software system using only free software, but it is of almost
no commercial interest to anyone. And thus it has had negligible
progress.)
Like it or not, money is essential to the way the world works, and
commercial interests are unavoidable. You can make them work for you
while keeping the values and ideals you hold dear (such as by having
volunteers for development, with contributions and leadership
appointments being personal, while letting a commercial organisation pay
your wages). Commercial interests are generally only a problem if you
let them be a problem.
> But I'd hope that we can avoid words like "fanaticism", "childish",
> "cultish" simply because of disagreement in philosophies or continuing
> to spread obvious misunderstandings of what someone wrote, it is not
> constructive and only causes unnsesescary agitation.
>
