diff options
author | Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> | 2021-04-20 22:23:35 +0200 |
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committer | Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> | 2021-04-20 22:26:07 +0200 |
commit | 162aa870b3e059dfbc32df318c230771ec58f1ae (patch) | |
tree | 897072e09649c52fa156fa1b0e43627e55d399d6 | |
parent | people: Distinguish between "endorse" and "participate". (diff) |
Add draft FAQ.
Details are still under discussion:
https://lists.gnu.tools/hyperkitty/list/assembly@lists.gnu.tools/thread/O64CDB5ACX2FVFHUTEKODOLVACAIAKPW/#YNF3XNQUBUFH6CAL32NXGNYWEQYPQAAZ
* drafts/faq.md: New file.
Diffstat (limited to '')
-rw-r--r-- | drafts/faq.md | 106 |
1 files changed, 106 insertions, 0 deletions
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1 | title: DRAFT Answering frequently asked questions | ||
2 | author: The GNU Assembly | ||
3 | date: 2021-04-20 16:00:00 | ||
4 | --- | ||
5 | |||
6 | **DRAFT** | ||
7 | |||
8 | Following the [Assembly | ||
9 | kick-off](https://web.gnu.tools/en/blog/2021/04/kicking-off-the-gnu-assembly/), | ||
10 | we received lots of questions and read comments that deserved answers. | ||
11 | This post attempts to answer the most common questions. | ||
12 | |||
13 | # Meta-question: why so much confusion around GNU/FSF? | ||
14 | |||
15 | Good question! A common belief is that GNU and the Free Software | ||
16 | Foundation (FSF) are the same thing. This is untrue: GNU is not a | ||
17 | registered non-profit, it’s an informal association among contributors, | ||
18 | separate from the FSF. The FSF is oblivious to technical matters in | ||
19 | GNU. | ||
20 | |||
21 | The FSF supports GNU development primarily in three ways: by taking care | ||
22 | of copyright assignments (for the few GNU packages that require it), as | ||
23 | a [fiscal sponsor](https://www.fsf.org/working-together/fund) for a few | ||
24 | projects, and by providing infrastructure like | ||
25 | [Savannah](https://savannah.gnu.org). For the most part, the FSF | ||
26 | “supports GNU development” in the same way that Microsoft “supports” the | ||
27 | development of projects hosted on GitHub. | ||
28 | |||
29 | # Is this a fork of GNU? | ||
30 | |||
31 | No. The [software in question](/en/software) is not being forked and | ||
32 | the people who write that software remain the same. | ||
33 | |||
34 | What changes is how these people organize themselves beyond their | ||
35 | individual projects—from a | ||
36 | [BDFL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life) | ||
37 | top-down model to a [community-oriented, consensus-based | ||
38 | model](https://gnu.tools/en/documents/governance/). | ||
39 | |||
40 | # Is this backed by FSF/OSI/SFC/XYZ? | ||
41 | |||
42 | No, it’s not! The Assembly was founded by GNU maintainers and | ||
43 | contributors and receive no support, financial or otherwise, from any | ||
44 | three-letter-acronym organization. Evil Corp™ isn’t helping either. | ||
45 | |||
46 | # Is this _against_ FSF/OSI/SFC/XYZ? | ||
47 | |||
48 | Nope! The Assembly is not a _reaction_ to the three-letter acronym of | ||
49 | your choice—it’s first and foremost a _constructive_ project. | ||
50 | |||
51 | Is it at odds with the three-letter acronym you have in mind? Maybe! | ||
52 | But we’re interested in _building_ something more than in arguing about | ||
53 | what others are doing. | ||
54 | |||
55 | # You’re just a minority anyway | ||
56 | |||
57 | That’s not a question, but you’re right: about [30 people](/en/people), | ||
58 | mostly appointed GNU maintainers, endorsed the [Social | ||
59 | Contract](/en/documents/social-contract) so far and may participate in | ||
60 | the Assembly. The number keeps increasing but is still a fraction of | ||
61 | the number of contributors to GNU packages: there are 300+ GNU | ||
62 | maintainers “on file”, though not everyone and [not each project is | ||
63 | active](https://wingolog.org/archives/2020/02/09/state-of-the-gnunion-2020), | ||
64 | [some](https://github.com/gnuradio/gr-governance/blob/main/aoa.md) | ||
65 | [even](https://www.r-project.org/foundation/) | ||
66 | [left](https://lwn.net/Articles/529522/) | ||
67 | [years](https://wingolog.org/archives/2009/12/13/gnu-gnome-and-the-fsf) | ||
68 | [ago](https://discourse.gnome.org/t/relation-between-gimp-and-gnome/2376/8) | ||
69 | for all practical purposes despite being [still | ||
70 | listed](https://www.gnu.org/software)—these projects have their own | ||
71 | governance model and rules, independent of “the rest of GNU”. To put it | ||
72 | differently, significant parts of GNU territory is no longer controlled | ||
73 | by the central government, if we dare such an analogy. | ||
74 | |||
75 | Anyways, is being a minority a problem? We don’t think so: we hope this | ||
76 | platform appeals to many GNU contributors and contributors-to-be, but we | ||
77 | can do great things even without on-boarding everyone! | ||
78 | |||
79 | # Why now? Is this really about <current event>? | ||
80 | |||
81 | While current events certainly motivated the decision to make our | ||
82 | efforts more visible, the desire for stronger collaboration | ||
83 | between GNU packages and for communal decision-making as it | ||
84 | pertains to a shared vision has been the subject of many | ||
85 | discussions among GNU maintainers and contributors over the past | ||
86 | decade or so. | ||
87 | |||
88 | # Why didn’t you try to effect change from the inside? | ||
89 | |||
90 | We did! It goes back to [at least ten | ||
91 | years](/en/blog/2021/04/kicking-off-the-gnu-assembly/). The project was | ||
92 | met with enthusiasm from some and hostility from others. That’s fine, | ||
93 | we don’t have to agree! | ||
94 | |||
95 | Unfortunately, GNU would host project-wide discussions on private | ||
96 | mailing lists, so these discussions and soul searching were only known | ||
97 | to “insiders”. The Assembly is determined to have transparent | ||
98 | processes; everything we did, starting with the drafting process of the | ||
99 | Social Contract in 2019–2020, was done publicly. | ||
100 | |||
101 | # Do you support PDP-11 assembly? | ||
102 | |||
103 | Some us write assembly code (not sure about | ||
104 | [PDP-11](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11) though), but all this is | ||
105 | about [a different kind of | ||
106 | “assembly”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_assembly). | ||