On Dec 11, 2007 2:00 PM, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
quoted text
>     OpenBSD is by far the most free OS in the landscape.  Everything that
>     ships with it is free or else it won't be distributed with it.
>
> Yes, that's what I was told.  I was also told that OpenBSD's ports
> system includes non-free programs.  Is that accurate too?
>
>       There is
>     not a single open source OS out there that is more careful than OpenBSD
>     on licensing, copyrights and frivolous patents.
>
> Maybe that is true, but it's not the issue I'm talking about.  I'm not
> a supporter of open source anyway; I fight for free software.
>
> Ututo and gNewSense have the policy not to include non-free programs,
> not even in a ports system.  Thus, they don't do anything that
> contradicts the philosophy of free software.  That's why I can
> recommend them.
>

While I completely understand this point of view - and (more
importantly) the motivation behind such decisions - what I am hearing
from you is that an individual's (or project's) actions in fighting
*against* proprietary and the closed-source mentality (whether it's a
blob, no documentation, not considering NDA's etc..) is *less*
important than whether or not users are allowed the *freedom* to add
in software, that might possibly not follow these other goals..

This I simply don't understand.

We are fighting for the same thing.

And you cast the OpenBSD project out because there are users that
invest the effort to provide other users ports that may or may not
follow the *projects* goals and work?

Mr. Stallman, it is with great respect that I say these things, as I
believe your noble efforts in these areas are commendable and have had
a great influence on our communities, but I do not understand the
discrepancies here.

quoted text
>     Unlinke linux OpenBSD does not contain proprietary firmware blobs in the
>     distribution.
>
> Torvalds' version of Linux is not free software, for this reason.
> Ututo and gNewSense include a version of Linux which remove the
> firmware blobs, in order to make it free software.
>
>

that's awesome, can users add these back in if they choose? is your
project worthless because of these users 'actions?


kind regards,
Jason