The Free Software Foundation is working to gain a "shared understanding" with the GNU Project
The corporate media witch-hunt against Honorary Doctor Richard Stallman resulted in him being ousted from the Free Software Foundation which he founded in 1985. He was, however, not removed from the GNU Project where he remains "Chief GNUisance". The FSF and the GNU project have so far had the shared values and goals; it appears that this is changing.
The Free Software Foundation put out this short statement about the efforts to keep some kind of relationship between the FSF and the GNU Project on the morning of October 7th:
"The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the GNU Project were both started by Richard M. Stallman (RMS), and he served until recently as the head of both. Because of that, the relationship between the FSF and GNU has been fluid.
As part of our commitment to supporting the development and distribution of fully free operating systems, the FSF provides GNU with services like fiscal sponsorship, technical infrastructure, promotion, copyright assignment, and volunteer management.
GNU decision-making has largely been in the hands of GNU leadership. Since RMS resigned as president of the FSF, but not as head of GNU ("Chief GNUisance"), the FSF is now working with GNU leadership on a shared understanding of the relationship for the future. As part of that, we invite comments from free software community members at fsf-and-gnu@fsf.org."
It is still unclear what transpired within the FSF which resulted in Richard Stallman resigning as president. It seems apparent that it was not entirely up to him. That raises the question of why the same forces did not manage to pressure him out of the GNU Project where he remains "Chief GNUisance".
To be clear: Richard Stallman does remain "Chief GNUisance". A traitor vandalized his his personal website stallman.org with two false statements claiming he resigned from the GNU Project too. These false statements were later removed. stallman.org currently features a large text on top of the page informing that:
"I continue to be the Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project. I do not intend to stop any time soon."
As for all the drama: There is one rather important aspect one may want to pay close attention to: money. The GNU Project is entirely funded by the FSF. Donation links on www.gnu.org go to my.fsf.org/donate/ - not some page where the money is sent to the GNU Project. This worked just fine while the two organizations where essentially one organization with different names and logos. This is no longer the case. Someone who sees a donate link on the GNU Project's website could easily end up funding some meaningless "diversity" drivel instead of GNU software development now that the FSF and the GNU project have become independent entities with what appears to be somewhat incompatible values.
It will be interesting to see what kind of relationship, if any, the future holds for the FSF and the GNU Project. Working with people who believe "inclusion" for the sake of "diversity" means kicking out anyone who's slightly different could be somewhat difficult.
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