summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/posts
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2021-04-21 18:42:20 +0200
committerLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2021-04-21 18:42:20 +0200
commit41fb2d4ab8c44d645611ac4e78db56cbaf239595 (patch)
tree6c1c82ed2a721647ab31eb815c5e276ab1af0b92 /posts
parentfaq: Remove suboptimal "territory" analogy. (diff)
faq: Publish.
* drafts/faq.md: Move to... * posts/faq.md: ... here. Remove "DRAFT" and adjust date.
Diffstat (limited to 'posts')
-rw-r--r--posts/faq.md94
1 files changed, 94 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/posts/faq.md b/posts/faq.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89ee0b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/posts/faq.md
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
1title: Answering frequently asked questions
2author: The GNU Assembly
3date: 2021-04-21 19:00:00
4---
5
6Following the [Assembly
7kick-off](https://web.gnu.tools/en/blog/2021/04/kicking-off-the-gnu-assembly/),
8we received lots of questions and read comments that deserved answers.
9This post attempts to answer the most common questions.
10
11# Meta-question: why so much confusion around GNU/FSF?
12
13Good question! A common belief is that GNU and the Free Software
14Foundation (FSF) are the same thing. This is untrue: GNU is not a
15registered non-profit, it’s an informal association among contributors,
16separate from the FSF. The FSF is oblivious to technical matters in
17GNU.
18
19The FSF supports GNU development primarily in three ways: As legal
20guardian (copyright assignments, acting on legal disputes or legal
21representation), as [fiscal sponsor](https://www.fsf.org/working-together/fund)
22for some GNU packages, and by providing infrastructure like
23[Savannah](https://savannah.gnu.org).
24
25# Is this a fork of GNU?
26
27No. The [software in question](/en/software) is not being forked and
28the people who write that software remain the same.
29
30What changes is how these people organize themselves beyond their
31individual projects—from a
32[BDFL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life)
33top-down model to a [community-oriented, consensus-based
34model](https://gnu.tools/en/documents/governance/).
35
36# Is the GNU Assembly an initiative of an existing Free Software organization or is it sponsored by a specific corporation?
37
38No, it’s not! The Assembly was founded by GNU maintainers on personal
39title and receives no support, financial or otherwise, from any
40organization at this time. At the moment the Assembly uses the
41resources of the individuals listed. We will publicly list anybody or
42any organization that provides us with sponsorship or resources to be
43completely transparent.
44
45# You’re just a minority anyway
46
47That’s not a question, but you’re right: about [30 people](/en/people),
48mostly appointed GNU maintainers, endorsed the [Social
49Contract](/en/documents/social-contract) so far and may participate in
50the Assembly. The number keeps increasing but is still a fraction of
51the number of contributors to GNU packages: there are 300+ GNU
52maintainers “on file”, though not everyone and [not each project is
53active](https://wingolog.org/archives/2020/02/09/state-of-the-gnunion-2020),
54[some](https://github.com/gnuradio/gr-governance/blob/main/aoa.md)
55[even](https://www.r-project.org/foundation/)
56[left](https://lwn.net/Articles/529522/)
57[years](https://wingolog.org/archives/2009/12/13/gnu-gnome-and-the-fsf)
58[ago](https://discourse.gnome.org/t/relation-between-gimp-and-gnome/2376/8)
59for all practical purposes despite being [still
60listed](https://www.gnu.org/software)—these projects have their own
61governance model and rules, independent of “the rest of GNU”.
62
63Anyway, is being a minority a problem? We don’t think so: we hope this
64platform appeals to many GNU contributors and contributors-to-be, but we
65can do great things even without on-boarding everyone!
66
67# Why now? Is this really about <current event>?
68
69While current events certainly motivated the decision to make our
70efforts more visible, the desire for stronger collaboration
71between GNU packages and for communal decision-making as it
72pertains to a shared vision has been the subject of many
73discussions among GNU maintainers and contributors over the past
74decade or so.
75
76# Why didn’t you try to effect change from the inside?
77
78We did! It goes back to [at least ten
79years](/en/blog/2021/04/kicking-off-the-gnu-assembly/). The project was
80met with enthusiasm from some and hostility from others. That’s fine,
81we don’t have to agree!
82
83Unfortunately, GNU would host project-wide discussions on private
84mailing lists, so these discussions and soul searching were only known
85to “insiders”. The Assembly is determined to have transparent
86processes; everything we did, starting with the drafting process of the
87Social Contract in 2019–2020, was done publicly.
88
89# Do you support PDP-11 assembly?
90
91Some of us write assembly code (not sure about
92[PDP-11](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11) though), but all this is
93about [a different kind of
94“assembly”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_assembly).