Re: "Open records", "good government principles", "corporate culture"

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

I have good reasons for doing what I do, but you might not appreciate
them since they are based on a context unlike the projects you have
experience with.

Most free software projects have no goal, no agenda, except to be
useful and successful.  Many define whoever develops them as in
charge.  Most of them describe their work as "open source" and believe
that the main virtue is "openness".  They have developed practices
which fit that context.

The GNU Project is very different from that.  I started it to develop
a free operating system, GNU, for a political cause: free software
(free as in freedom).  Every GNU package is part of this effort and
has this as its main goal.  Not "openness".

This situation has consequences that may not be obvious.  Treating the
project like those "open source" projects would make for big trouble.

Nonetheless, you might know ways I could handle this better.  If I
explain the situation and its particular problems, maybe you could
suggest some.  You have no obligation to spend time on this, but if
you want to, please let's talk by voice -- to save time and hands.


-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)