Re: Removal of support for GCC hosted on UWIN

[Richard Stallman <rms at gnu dot org>]

      It's the process and reasoning for making the
    decision to remove U/WIN support that's concerning.

I made this decision.  The reason for the decision is that we must not
distribute code that appears to endorse the legitimacy of an activity
that we are condemning as a violation of our license.

I stand by this decision, and I will act likewise again in the future
if another occasion arises.

This decision is not political, it is legal.  However, the GNU Project
does make decisions for political reasons.  It has a political goal at
its very center: the goal that *software should be free*.  The purpose
of a GNU program such as GCC is not simply to "be a good program", but
to contribute to this overall goal.

The distinction is subtle, and only rarely makes a practical
difference.  Most GCC decisions are made for technical reasons alone,
because only technical factors come into most decisions.  But
sometimes political factors control a decision.  It will happen.

The GNU Project does not ask contributors to GCC to make a political
pledge--contributors are welcome regardless of their political views.
The flip side is that since we cannot count on contributors to share
our political goals, we do not give them a say in political decisions.
You are welcome to join in the technical work if you do not share our
political goals, but we are very selective about who participates in
our political decisions.

Our political views are no secret--they are described at length in
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/.  If you are familiar with them, the
occasional political decision should not be surprising.