Re: Delphi, Pascal, delphi-mode, pascal-mode, and free software

[Richard Stallman]

The issue of editing modes for languages whose compilers are nonfree
is a difficult borderline case.  If we strictly interpret the rule
of not supporting nonfree software, we should reject those modes.

However, I think it is ok to include such modes when the language is
widely used.  In such cases, Emacs support gives little encouragement
to use the language.  For instance, Emacs has had a Java mode since
long before there was a free Java platform, and I think it was good
to have this mode.

On the other hand, if there is an obscure language whose only
implementation is proprietary, it would be good to refuse to let
Emacs publicize its existence.

    >> > Also, what's the relationship between pascal-mode and delphi-mode?
    >> > Is there some overlap between the two, should there be more overlap,
    >> > or less?
    > Each of these targets a different major dialect of Pascal and is
    > completely separate from the other.

The two Lisp programs may be completely separate, but a different
question is how different these Pascal dialects are.  Would it be
easy to modify one of these modes to handle all the Pascal dialects
we want to handle?