Re: How to make a non-GPL Org-mode exporter?

[Oleh Krehel <ohwoeowho@gmail.com>]

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:

> Hi all,
>
> after a short discussion in a recent thread, I have a serious technical
> question.
>
> Assume that (for some reason) I want to write an Org-mode exporter which
> won't be GPL'd.  (Use-case: having written a few custom exporters, I'm
> writing a tutorial on them, and I consider publishing a *tutorial* with
> GPL'd code a Bad Thing™.  (The idea of a programming tutorial is that
> other people can or even should reuse the code in the tutorial, right?
> And I see no reason to impose GPL on them.))
>
> How do I do that?  Is that even possible?  Also, is it possible to get
> an actual answer to this question without spending money on lawyers?

Like I said in an earlier message just a few minutes ago, you can do it,
but you can't use org.el or Elisp at all, unless you implement your own
Elisp engine that you call.

The GPL isn't as evil as you make it out to be: in fact, it's not evil
at all: it only ensures that you pass on the freedom that you receive to
others, i.e. **you are not free to remove freedom from others**.

As for documentation, here I cite a bit of Elisp manual:

    (a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have the freedom to copy and
     modify this GNU manual.  Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
     developing GNU and promoting software freedom.”

Just think about it: on 99% of published books it says:

    No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
    system, or transmitted, in any form or by means electronic,
    mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written
    permission of the publisher.

Now who is the evil guy here?

regards,
Oleh