On Sun, Nov 30, 2014 at 8:54 PM, Nick Coghlan
On 30 November 2014 at 15:23, Chris Angelico
wrote: Python is already using quite a bit of non-free software in its ecosystem. The Windows builds of CPython are made with Microsoft's compiler, and the recent discussion about shifting to Cygwin or MinGW basically boiled down to "but it ought to be free software", and that was considered not a sufficiently strong argument. In each case, the decision has impact on other people (using MSVC for the official python.org installers means extension writers need to use MSVC too; and using GitHub means that contributors are strongly encouraged, possibly required, to use GitHub); so why is it acceptable to use a non-free compiler, but not acceptable to use a non-free host?
Relying on non-free software to support users of a non-free platform is rather different from *requiring* the use of non-free software to participate in core Python community design processes.
But what non-free software is required to use the community design processes? The GitHub client is entirely optional; I don't use it, I just use git itself. Using a free client to access a proprietary server isn't the same as using non-free software. ChrisA