Re: Bitkeeper outrage, old and new

Richard Stallman
2002-10-24T16:48:08Z

> even if others are not. Talking about principles encourages people to
> think about them, and that has an influence. In the long run, it has
> been very effective--merely writing code would have achieved little.

On the contrary - without code, GPL means very little.

That does not contradict what I said. You're talking about a
different though related question.

Any software license gets its main effect from being applied to
certain code. But the code alone would not spread the philosophy of
free software. To do that, we must talk about the philosophy. If I
had only written free software, and not explained about the freedom it
gives you, the code might have contributed to the advance of
technology but it would not have contributed much to the advance of
human freedom.