summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/drafts
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 /drafts
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 'drafts')
-rw-r--r--drafts/faq.md96
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 96 deletions
diff --git a/drafts/faq.md b/drafts/faq.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 92e03d8..0000000
--- a/drafts/faq.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,96 +0,0 @@
1title: DRAFT Answering frequently asked questions
2author: The GNU Assembly
3date: 2021-04-20 16:00:00
4---
5
6**DRAFT**
7
8Following the [Assembly
9kick-off](https://web.gnu.tools/en/blog/2021/04/kicking-off-the-gnu-assembly/),
10we received lots of questions and read comments that deserved answers.
11This post attempts to answer the most common questions.
12
13# Meta-question: why so much confusion around GNU/FSF?
14
15Good question! A common belief is that GNU and the Free Software
16Foundation (FSF) are the same thing. This is untrue: GNU is not a
17registered non-profit, it’s an informal association among contributors,
18separate from the FSF. The FSF is oblivious to technical matters in
19GNU.
20
21The FSF supports GNU development primarily in three ways: As legal
22guardian (copyright assignments, acting on legal disputes or legal
23representation), as [fiscal sponsor](https://www.fsf.org/working-together/fund)
24for some GNU packages, and by providing infrastructure like
25[Savannah](https://savannah.gnu.org).
26
27# Is this a fork of GNU?
28
29No. The [software in question](/en/software) is not being forked and
30the people who write that software remain the same.
31
32What changes is how these people organize themselves beyond their
33individual projects—from a
34[BDFL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life)
35top-down model to a [community-oriented, consensus-based
36model](https://gnu.tools/en/documents/governance/).
37
38# Is the GNU Assembly an initiative of an existing Free Software organization or is it sponsored by a specific corporation?
39
40No, it’s not! The Assembly was founded by GNU maintainers on personal
41title and receives no support, financial or otherwise, from any
42organization at this time. At the moment the Assembly uses the
43resources of the individuals listed. We will publicly list anybody or
44any organization that provides us with sponsorship or resources to be
45completely transparent.
46
47# You’re just a minority anyway
48
49That’s not a question, but you’re right: about [30 people](/en/people),
50mostly appointed GNU maintainers, endorsed the [Social
51Contract](/en/documents/social-contract) so far and may participate in
52the Assembly. The number keeps increasing but is still a fraction of
53the number of contributors to GNU packages: there are 300+ GNU
54maintainers “on file”, though not everyone and [not each project is
55active](https://wingolog.org/archives/2020/02/09/state-of-the-gnunion-2020),
56[some](https://github.com/gnuradio/gr-governance/blob/main/aoa.md)
57[even](https://www.r-project.org/foundation/)
58[left](https://lwn.net/Articles/529522/)
59[years](https://wingolog.org/archives/2009/12/13/gnu-gnome-and-the-fsf)
60[ago](https://discourse.gnome.org/t/relation-between-gimp-and-gnome/2376/8)
61for all practical purposes despite being [still
62listed](https://www.gnu.org/software)—these projects have their own
63governance model and rules, independent of “the rest of GNU”.
64
65Anyway, is being a minority a problem? We don’t think so: we hope this
66platform appeals to many GNU contributors and contributors-to-be, but we
67can do great things even without on-boarding everyone!
68
69# Why now? Is this really about <current event>?
70
71While current events certainly motivated the decision to make our
72efforts more visible, the desire for stronger collaboration
73between GNU packages and for communal decision-making as it
74pertains to a shared vision has been the subject of many
75discussions among GNU maintainers and contributors over the past
76decade or so.
77
78# Why didn’t you try to effect change from the inside?
79
80We did! It goes back to [at least ten
81years](/en/blog/2021/04/kicking-off-the-gnu-assembly/). The project was
82met with enthusiasm from some and hostility from others. That’s fine,
83we don’t have to agree!
84
85Unfortunately, GNU would host project-wide discussions on private
86mailing lists, so these discussions and soul searching were only known
87to “insiders”. The Assembly is determined to have transparent
88processes; everything we did, starting with the drafting process of the
89Social Contract in 2019–2020, was done publicly.
90
91# Do you support PDP-11 assembly?
92
93Some of us write assembly code (not sure about
94[PDP-11](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11) though), but all this is
95about [a different kind of
96“assembly”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_assembly).