Re: Questions

[Richard Stallman <rms gnu org>]

Every GNU package that was launched as a GNU package was produced by
the GNU Project.  GNOME is one of them, and that's what I referred to.

I'm sorry if you took umbrage at this, but there is no reason to.
These facts are nothing to be ashamed of.  In the world of software, a
GNU package is a very respectable thing to be.  The credit for all of
GNU goes to the people who worked on the many GNU packages, people
such as you.

You are right that GNOME development has been mostly independent of
the rest of GNU development.  But this is not an exception--it is
normal.  A few GNU packages have been developed by FSF staff, who I
supervise more; but generally every GNU package maintainer works quite
independently.  We do it this way because it is efficient, both for
them and for me.  They follow certain general GNU policies and coding
standards, but they make almost all technical decisions on their own.

We do expect GNU maintainers to make their codevelopers aware of the
implications of being a GNU package.  That way they can follow the
general GNU policies while still working independently and thus
efficiently.