From: rda@eng.cam.ac.uk (R.D. Auchterlounie) Subject: Re: Linux vs. RSAREF Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1993 11:42:22 GMT
abraham@iesd.auc.dk (Per Abrahamsen) writes:
>>>>>> "Don" == Don & <bashford@scripps.edu> writes:
>Don> This exception was the basis for allowing Pearl Software to proceed
>Don> with their distribution of a version of emacs for a PC that required
>Don> some sort of proprietary dynamically loaded memory manager. The
>Don> manager was considered "part of the OS."
>Nope, this was what happened to OEMACS.
>Pearl Software's WIN-EMACS was different. They created a proprietary
>library containing the code needed to interface with MS Windows, and
As I understood it they created a proprietary X emulation library for
MS Windows - and then made some changes to emacs to work with it.
>modified Emacs to use this library. The modified emacs is useless
>without the prorietary library, and the library is only used by the
>modified emacs.
The modified emacs source is available (as it's GPL) and all you would
then need, I think, is _an_ X emulation library - (I think I read
somewhere that NT includes such X emulation).
>This is a clear example of using `the-user-does-the-link' as a
>technical trick to get around the GPL.
>Apparently it has been blessed by RMS.
Not without giving them a lot of hassle on the net, and I suspect that
it was allowed in the end (with modifications to the distribution)
unwillingly.
I think the problem is that the FSF has already counted "windowing
system" as "part of the OS" - this must be the case, else how could you
run emacs using proprietary X implementations on unix ?
The basic X11 may be free and source available but many
implementations for various OSes are proprietary - in fact I don't
know of any free / source available for MSDOS / Windows, I'd be very
grateful if anyone else does know of one.
RMS would look really stupid if he said you could only use emacs if
your X was free.
-ray
<rda@eng.cam.ac.uk>
Disclaimer: I don't even like Win-Emacs / Pearl Software / MS Windows
and I really _hate_ MSDOS. There are just some things in life you have
to put up with...