Post #1871646

2026-05-01 08:33 UTC

Thinks I hate from #GNU and a bit from #Unix/#X11: - #Emacs Calc (core package) depending on nonfree (not GPL compatible) Gnuplot for plots. They should rewrite the output for GNU #Plotutils and enhance the second to have 3D plot support. https://spdx.org/licenses/gnuplot.html Distributing Gnuplot forks as a patch against the main one -mandatory- makes Gnuplot&#39;s code unshareable with other projects, period. - #Texinfo (official GNU documentation format) depending on #Texlive where tons of stuff in the official release it&#39;s nonfree. Again, that should be a core feature for #texinfo, and not depend on #tex at all. https://wiki.parabola.nu/TeXLive_freedom_verification - #Xedit might look as a crude X11 text editor but it supports vi command AND it has an embedded Lisp interpreter (compatible with a bit of CL/core Elisp code, enough to do Math). It&#39;s 2026 and still doesn&#39;t support neither UTF8 nor Unicode fonts. Trying to enforce them under Xaw3D (LD_PRELOAD) will crash XEdit. That editor would have lots of support if it supported them. It&#39;s far lighter than Emacs and with the bundled Lisp you might do wonders. Back to Groff/Troff. At least under #Hyperbola GNU (and future #BSD) with #mandoc and maybe by promoting groff they are pretty much safe even to typeset formulae into diferent formats, you can pretty much use Groff for Math paper drafts and then use TexLive for standard, rigid academic layouts.

Replies (5)

@thaodan@mastodon.social 2026-05-01 14:15

@davemq @anthk "Patches welcome" I think. Manpower isn't free.

Open ##2012942
@anthk@neopaquita.es 2026-05-02 16:32

@thaodan @davemq No, you can't add further restrictions on GPL licenses, it's forbidden. On Gnuplot... it's 'free' but not GPL compatible. https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/License:Gnuplot Gnuplot it's just hackeable into itself. You can add maybe MIT/BSD/ISC code into Gnuplot, but not back.

Open ##2012961
@davemq@fosstodon.org 2026-05-01 13:10

@anthk@neopaquita.es Who is this "they" you speak of? There's not an army of people maintaining #Emacs Calc.

Open ##4211466
@norbu@mastodon.social 2026-05-16 19:07

@anthk@neopaquita.es The check on TeX Live is so badly outdated (16 years!!!!) that I can only laugh. The license situation and status back then was a hugely different topic. Current #texlive has gone through full reviews from various distributions, so you might update your statements for about 2 decades to get better results.

Open ##4211467
@Suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com 2026-06-18 16:24

@anthk@neopaquita.es Being GPLvX-incompatible doesn't make a license proprietary. The gnuplot license is in fact a free license, as you can share modifications, although what it requires is so annoying that it barely qualifies for free. Gnuplot really should just be licensed under the AGPLv3-or-later. It'll clearly just take a little more work until texlive becomes free.

Open ##4211471