Re: GNOME vs GNU gcc & glibc

[Sergio Brandano <sb dcs qmw ac uk>]

>>  I would be contented with a self contained gnome-lib.
>What do you mean self contained?  What exactly would be in this tarball?

 Self contained means, in this context, that you can untar it,
 configure it and compile it just on top of GNU/GNOME code
 (gettext and grep).

>> ... please have a look at
>> ftp://ftp.geo.net/pub/gnome/sources/README
>> The core seems to be more than three files.

>This README file makes no claims about the core of GNOME.  It is a list of
>tarballs that some unidentified person is saying you "need" to install to
>run an out-of-date version of GNOME.  The document is in error, many of
>those are not needed for GNOME.  The document is also unofficial, not on a
>GNOME site, and obsolete.  Why are you bringing it up?

 Because I have no access to the main site (www.gnome.org). However,
 if you look at the list of all the official mirror sites
 (http://www.gnome.org/ftpmirrors.shtml) you'll find a pointer to 
 ftp.geo.net. So, what I did is to point you to an official README.

>> Then GNOME depends on non-GNOME code

>Yes.  On a modern Unix or Unix-like system, pretty much all programs
>depend on outside code and libraries.

 Well, it should not.

 GNOME is part of the GNU project, which aims at free software. This
 is a very general statement but, in principle, what happens if one of
 those non-GNOME programs become commercial software?

>> and it's development is constrained by the non-GNOME people? Is that the
>> case? 

>No, we don't find it constraining at all.  If something exists that is
>both useful and Free Software, we use it.  If it doesn't exist, or it only
>exists in a non-free form, we make it.  We aren't constrained by this
>because we are a Free Software project. 

 Ok, then we are speaking the same language. However, let me resume
 the original problem, why do we need to compile 18+ source codes in
 order to compile gnome-libs? I find it constraining.

 Sergio