[Dolibarr-foundation-board] Libre VS "open source"

[Régis Houssin]

Bonjour,

il y a eu une discussion sur la mailing-list de Tuleap (utilisé pour
doliforge) pour savoir si on devait utiliser le terme "open source" dans
la présentation d'un logiciel sous licence GPL.

voici la réponse de Richard Stallman qui a bien voulu répondre.

Devons nous remplacer le terme "open source" sur les sites Dolibarr ?

----------------------------


We had an argue about whether we can call a software under GPL
license, an "open source" software

There are several different issues here which may have
misunderstandings.

We in the free software movement call the GNU GPL (General Public
License) a free software license because we want to emphasize that it
respects users' freedom.  However, the people who advocate open source
would call it an open source license.

All the widely used open source licenses are free software licenses.
There are a quite a few open source licenses which are not free licenses,
but they are rarely used.

See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html for a list of
many free software licenses.

     just because that statement may help clarify that the maintainers
     offer support and other services around the application for a
     certain fee,

The free software movement fully endorses this.  I used to do this for
GCC and GNU Emacs back in the 80s.  The FSF has a support directory
which you could be listed in.

     and they fear that with the use of the term free software their
     potential clients may not understand that.

So they think people might misunderstand "free" as "gratis"?  Many
people do misunderstand, but it is easy to explain: "free as in
freedom, not as in price".

    The suggestion was to add the word libre. But they still insist on
    the use of "open source" pretending it has the same meaning as
    free software.

The main difference between "free software" and "open source" is in
philosophical values.  The free software movement is a campaign for
freedom.  We say that this is an ethical issue, that respecting users'
freedom is ethical and not respecting it is an injustice.

Open source rejects freedom as a goal, and avoids raising the issue as
a matter of right and wrong.  See
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html for
more explanation of the difference between free software and open
source.

I urge you to say "libre" rather than "open" because the cause of
freedom needs visible support.

--
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org  www.gnu.org
Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
  Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call

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