Re: Release plans

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Richard M. Stallman writes:

 >     How does not providing dynamic loading maximize what users can
 >     do while remaining free?
 > 
 > It protects against the danger of non-free C-level add-ons to
 > Emacs.

All a freedom-lover has to do to avoid those non-free add-ons is ...
avoid them.  How does a non-free add-on sneak in under my radar?  As
far as I can see, the possibility of remaining free is unaffected by
the presence or absence of a dynamic loader.

 > It's the same principle as the GPL itself.

As you like to say about copyright and patent, GPL and "no DSOs" are
two completely different things, so the same principles can't be
applied without careful justification.

The GPL prohibits certain freedom-inhibiting activities absolutely,
while leaving all value-in-use available to users.  But as I
understand it anything that can be done by dynamic linking (legally or
physically) can also be done by static linking, so it's not a
prohibition, merely an inconvenience, to potential violators.  On the
other hand, this restriction *does* detract from value-in-use.