Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft GNU-Hub (Part 1)

Guest post by figosdev

GNUHub

Summary: Any project of GNU going into GitHub is making it seem or feel acceptable for GNU projects to be 'outsourced' to Microsoft; so what does it mean to have some of GNU inside the proprietary software jail of Microsoft? The first part deals with GNU projects that have GitHub dependencies.

Microsoft's takeover of free software is fascinating, but where can the line be drawn? I treat this as both a hypothetical question and a practical one, because I've spent years boycotting Microsoft and ever since they purchased GitHub, I've noticed that's become next to impossible. "A source repo on every desk..."



Originally I thought perhaps we could boycott projects that are based on GitHub, since hey -- there's some cool stuff there but it's just some applications, right? Then I noticed full programming languages and libraries. Oh... Node.js, that sucks. CPython, oh well, there are other implementations. Perl, hmm...

Then I noticed several GNU/Linux distros volunteer to be captured by Microsoft. I mean I'm not going to be using those -- oh, it's a lot. I've already gone to the trouble of figuring out that out of 275 active distros on DistroWatch, if you really want to boycott GitHub you're down to at most, 33. No, not 33 percent -- 33 distros, including Tiny Core! Not including Trisquel. Trisquel is captive to an anti-GPL monopoly via its stupid, stupid "init" system. (Cuckoo OS, more like).

But we can always build our own distro, Eh? So let's take apart Tiny Core, I figured -- It's incredibly modular, it should be a piece of cake to remove the parts controlled by Microsoft, right?

"Microsoft has Gtk yoked by something glib2 needs."The kernel isn't libre, I know. I've wanted a linux-libre kernel (or at least a Debian blob-free kernel) for TC for ages. Maybe the blobs are in tcz packages. But I think if TC had a blob-free kernel it would be advertised as such.

I once hoped Alex Oliva would consider making a libre kernel for TC, but that's getting ahead of ourselves a bit. I've never been interested in maintaining a kernel, I only got into remixing distros because I wasn't paying attention.

I created scripts a year or two ago to remix Tiny Core and create tcz packages. They're basically squashfs files, which TC "installs" by mounting them. Ok, that's no big deal. Oh, development of squashfs-tools has moved to GitHub. Lovely. But the kernel portion is still developed where it should be. I take this as meaning that the Linux kernel can mount tcz, it just can't produce them. Ok, I guess we can use files that are mkfs'd to ext3 instead. That's a GitHub-free solution, we can worry about compressing them later.

What we really need to do is figure out what to remove, and that's going to take some research. I've already started figuring out which TC packages can be dropped.

Those red boxes are packages for things based on GitHub, but the gold boxes are packages that need things like libffi which is based on GitHub. Just so you know, libffi is pulled in by glib2. The GUI apps (Gtk at least) need libffi, so that's at least one serious "Gotcha" already. Microsoft has Gtk yoked by something glib2 needs.

I don't always trust Debian dependencies, but they're certainly illustrative -- here's the page for glib2: https://packages.debian.org/buster/libglib2.0-0 it needs libffi6. Oh, fun -- it also needs zlib1g. This is needed for loading png graphics, so anywhere you find a png, you need GitHub. No, this isn't because of glib2. Zlib1g is also developed on GitHub, and is needed along with libpng for loading or saving png graphics.

In the past, Microsoft has killed off lots of its acquisitions to hurt competitors, so the scenario I'm assuming is one where it decides to start killing (or taking over) free software projects it doesn't care about.

"There ought to be an exodus."When Oracle tried this with OpenOffice, the developers simply left and forked it. That's exactly what they should do, but in this instance, developers have loads of warning. And they're just sitting on Microsoft's repos like it's no big deal, letting their projects become further and further entrenched. I'm well aware of the fact that not everybody who develops on GitHub actually cares about software freedom. That's another reason not to develop there.

So imagine Microsoft forcing several such forks at the same time. Build systems for distros everywhere would be thrown into disarray. It's not that the scenario will necessarily be worst-case, but I expect Microsoft intends to get their money's worth. There ought to be an exodus.

If we are trying to escape, at least we can figure out where free software has its foot caught in a proverbial bear trap.

Libffi? Not good. Zlib1g and png graphics? Whoa, someone fix that. Lately I'm saving screencaps with JPEG in protest, which is certainly not ideal. The GIF patent has expired, but it only does 8-bit colour. I guess there's still X PixMap, right? We can do 24-bit graphics with xpm.xz (XZ-utils are not GitHub-based. I think they originated with a couple of Slackware developers.)

I've made my way from Tiny Core to Trisquel looking for GitHub vulnerable projects, and finally from Trisquel directly to the GNU project itself. It isn't good, folks.

This is Part 1, implying that there will be a Part 2 if not a Part 3, but I've only looked through a fraction of the GNU projects and here's what I've already found:

The GNU project uses Perl -- a lot!

"The GNU project uses Perl — a lot!"I don't compile a lot of programs, personally. I've spent hours editing and recompiling one C++ program, I've edited and compiled one minor C program, mostly I work with scripting languages (though I do use source-to-source compilers a lot).

If there are obvious mistakes or less obvious misconceptions I'm presenting when I talk about some of the details, I hope you'll mention it in the comments. I'm sure there will be a few differences of opinion as well.

But let's start with Automake. Automake is used for a large number of GNU packages -- it depends on Perl. Perl is on GitHub. That's not good, hackers -- that's not good.

Many GNU sources have a file called "missing" which I believe is Automake-related. This file often informs the user that they will need Perl (and links to perl.org so they can get it) and it links to flex on GitHub. There's another one. Of course some of the GNU sources are so old they still link to the flex on SourceForge. Here's a fun fact: GNU Savannah is a fork of SourceForge from when it was still free software.

Flex, lex, Yacc and Bison are all related -- lex is a lexer, flex is an alternative, Bison is an alternative to Yacc and Bison often uses flex to get tokens. The problem is that flex is GitHub-based. This is not good. Plus, Automake also wants flex. So whatever sort of creek we are in, our paddle is slowly transforming into a tiny little stick.

A lot of GNU sources include texinfo files. Texinfo seems to need Perl as well.

VERA includes a Perl script, vc-dwim is a Perl script (missing wants flex anyway) WB B-tree Associative Arrays seems to include C Sharp code (so you'll need Mono, which the FSF warned against and which is based on GitHub) XBoard uses png files, Xnee includes pnee which uses Gtk and png.

As mentioned, Gtk brings in glib2 which brings in libffi, which is based on GitHub -- while Gtk2 and Gtk3 are not based on GitHub, if you're looking for Gtk1, GitHub is where it appears to be.

Some of these old GNU programs appear to use Gtk1, so whether each one is GitHub-based because of libffi or GitHub-based because of Gtk1, is a detail I've mostly ignored.

Units includes units_cur which is a Python script and texi2man which is a Perl script.

"Texinfo seems to need Perl as well."The thing about Python is that CPython is the most often-used implementation, including in the GNU project, and CPython is based on Microsoft GitHub. PyPy is a great drop-in replacement, though it doesn't work on everything.

You can't always tell when you find yourself in front of a Python script, whether it needs CPython (thus GitHub) or not. So Python is worth watching for, but only proves to be a GitHub hostage sometimes.

Taylor UUCP uses Perl, Tex for the impatient uses png files in docs, Texinfo uses Perl, Hurd includes gitlog-to-changelog which calls Perl, GNU Readline includes texi2html and texti2dvi, which use Perl.

GNU Shepherd has png files in /doc and perl and flex in missing. Gnu Telecom has a png file. Sather has a Perl script called ps2gif. Spread Sheet Widget uses Gtk, SQLtutor has pngs in the docs. Swbis appears to need Python and python-devel.

Queue is dumped in favour of GNU Parallel, which uses Perl. Ring redirects to GNU Jami, which uses Python.

PythonWebkit obviously needs Python; pyconfigure may get away with PyPy as a replacement. PSPP uses Perl and png files with a GUI in Gtk. Proxyknife has Perl code in the docs and in configure.

Doxyfile is one to watch for in the sources. I believe this is created by Doxygen, which is used to created documentation from source code. Doxygen is based on GitHub.

PowerGuru has a png and lots of Python code, oleo has png in docs and uses plotutils, which support png. Ocrad has a png in /archive. Occhiolino uses Python. MetaHTML uses perl.h.

Mac Changer hasn't updated in years, but like GNU Radio is a GNU project that's based on GitHub -- really not good. I can't figure out why GNU Radio hasn't tried to move though. That still gets worked on, unlike Mac Changer.

GNU LibreJS, a tool I cheered on for ages waiting for it to be created, uses Jasmine, a Javascript library which is based on GitHub: http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/librejs.git/tree/build.sh

In fact build.sh downloads it directly from Microsoft, which I think shows a bit too much trust given that this plugin goes directly into GNU IceCat:

JASMINE_URL="https://GitHub.com/jasmine/jasmine/releases/download/v$JASMINE_VER/jasmine-standalone-$JASMINE_VER.zip" curl -L -o "$JASMINE_LIB.zip" "$JASMINE_URL" && unzip -d test/ $JASMINE_LIB.zip lib/**

We've all done something like this, but this is exactly where it shouldn't be done.

Make also seems to need Perl, it may or may not need Python.

"The FSF already warns people against non-free repos such as GitHub. While self-hosting is certainly better, many people won't and my advice to them is at least choose a non-profit organisation for hosting their code."This only covers a portion of the GNU project, but let's tally up what needs to happen for the GNU Project to not rely so heavily on the good will of its most dedicated foe:

1. Fork or make an official GNU mirror of Perl. If Perl goes, GNU is just about done.

2. The same applies for zlib1g as well. This library was invented and/or promoted specifically to avoid GIF-related patent traps! Now it's controlled by the world's second-biggest patent troll (the other sponsors the FSF. Great.)

3. Figure out libffi. I can't tell you more, I only know it helps things like Python use things like ctypes ("foreign functions").

4. Start using PyPy more, when possible. CPython is a trap. Note that PyPy has some major limitations. I'm very fond of it, any limitation it has I'm hoping for the best.

5. Write something justifying support of Mono in WB B-tree Associative Arrays. I would suggest removing that part of the code, but that seems unlikely.

6. That LibreJS code could be fixed today. At least mirror Jasmine in the LibreJS tree.

7. The FSF already warns people against non-free repos such as GitHub. While self-hosting is certainly better, many people won't and my advice to them is at least choose a non-profit organisation for hosting their code.

Gitea is also developed on GitHub, so it's a bit odd that they're touting it as an alternative. If it's an alternative, why not move Gitea off GitHub then? (at least move it to GitLab).

I never did trust Google Code, of course. For-Profit code repos technically have the same problem that GitHub has: they can be bought just like GitHub. Non-profits have to be infiltrated like the FSF or FSFE instead, which is harder.

"What's lacking now is leadership, and though I think it would take more than putting Stallman in charge again (which is the right thing to do as the efforts to remove him were dishonest and corrupt, plus it would probably help) there doesn't seem to be anybody who is doing a better job."A decentralised, peer-to-peer means of hosting would be ideal, though currently the main project I know of related to hosting code that way is through feneas.org, which I already associate with the typical trend of Codes-of-Censorship (along with a "FOSS" manifesto which combined with their Code of Conduct is ultimately going to lead to a hardline, de facto "be nice to the Open Shills" policy. It's not like there aren't precedents.

Don't get me wrong, so far the software looks good. But you can say the same for the GNU Project.

The importance of leaving GitHub is really not stressed enough by what's left of the Free Software Foundation.

What's lacking now is leadership, and though I think it would take more than putting Stallman in charge again (which is the right thing to do as the efforts to remove him were dishonest and corrupt, plus it would probably help) there doesn't seem to be anybody who is doing a better job.

Unless "better" means "bigger events funded by Microsoft and Google". No thanks, the Linux Foundation was doing that already, and it didn't help at all.

Long live rms, and happy hacking.

Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain)

Not including the code snippet, which is from http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/librejs.git/tree/build.sh

And if this article uses a parody of the GitHub logo based on the GNU head, I almost certainly used this one from Wikipedia.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Dystopian Trends in Technology Make Richard Stallman More Relevant Than Ever
It's good to see him attracting vast audiences
Richard Stallman (RMS) Announced His Talk Less Than 24 Hours Before It Took Place and Still Filled Up the Auditorium at Sapienza Università di Roma
Photos from yesterday evening [...] It looks like it was a very successful event
 
Central Staff Committee of the European Patent Office (EPO) Warns That EPO Management is Robbing or Manipulating Pension Funds Again
Faking "growth" is just about as bad as forgery
Probably a Lot Worse Than LLM Slop: GNOME Tying Itself to Divisive Politics, Even Where It's Clearly Not Relevant
Something has gone terribly wrong in GNOME
Links 14/10/2025: Microsoft OneDrive Scanning Faces in Photos (Without Asking First), "OpenAI Says It Will Move to Allow Smut"
Links for the day
They Generally Don't Like Scholars, as They're Less Compelled or Pressured to Repeat What Corporations and Oligarchs Say
People who loathe scholars have an agenda in mind that, unlike that of reasonable people, revolves around controlling people
Belated New Article About Last Thursday's Lecture by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
there are good reasons to pay with cash, not limited to privacy
Attacking Richard Stallman Has Become 'Career Suicide'
If you're going to viciously attack somebody, make sure your arguments are rock-solid
Microsoft's Failing XBox Business Has Turned Games Into Funerals
How does it feel to depend on Microsoft?
Yesterday's "Distinguished Lecture" by Richard Stallman Possibly Attended by Close to 1,000 People
The capacity of the place is about 900
Slop Poisons Everything
Imagine wanting to find what Torvalds has just said or what has just been released
Taking Software Freedom 'Mainstream'
interest in Software Freedom must have grown
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 13, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 13, 2025
Gemini Links 14/10/2025: Ada Lovelace Day, Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 Review, Why to Avoid Network Solutions
Links for the day
The EPO's War on Techrights Was a Massive Mistake
The EPO started the SLAPPs after we had published a few hundreds of articles; we've since then published close to 6,000 because the attacks on us emboldened insiders to help us
General-Purpose Computers to Become Growing Area of Coverage
Without them, we have little left for controlling our lives
"They missed a great opportunity to shut up." -Jacques Chirac
Brett Wilson LLP has been trying to cheat the legal system many times
Harassment evidence: Switzerland, overcrowded fitness and yoga centers, incompetence and racism in accident response
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Vincent Danjean & Debian NXIVM collateral, blackmail risks
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
In Sweden This Past Friday Richard Stallman Explained Why Copyleft is Important
And he didn't have to 'bash' BSDs, either
IBM Layoffs Due to a Lack of Money and Company Debt Rising by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in 6 Months
IBM didn't buy Red Hat for any ideological reasons; it was a fast "cash grab" for revenue
Forbes Already Stopped Being a News Sites. Now It's a Spam and Propaganda Platform for "Paying Partners" (Companies).
news from Forbes became very scarce
Is the Second-Largest Institution in Europe (EPO) Gradually Becoming More Like a Sweatshop?
Underpaid, unqualified, inexperienced and incompatible people are already recruited to replace veteran examiners
The Register MS Has No FOSS Coverage Anymore
The Editor in Chief is like a Microsoft plant
Links 13/10/2025: "Toasty Subwoofer" and WiFi Speakers "Are About To Go Dumb"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: iNaturalist and Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea
Links for the day
Microsoft Does Not Deny That Large Retailers Like Walmart, Costco and Target Are Giving Up on XBox (and Not Stocking It)
No doubt XBox is in trouble and rumours suggest that more mass layoffs are imminent
We'll Encourage Richard Stallman to Talk About Software Patents at the EPO Next Week When He Visits Munich (EPO Headquarters)
Go listen to Richard Stahlmann
Investigative Journalism Protects Society From Corruption, Crimes Against Women, Assaults on Civil Society
"what is the point of men doing military practice to defend a system that is so rotten?"
Swiss pimp usurping reputation of legendary Tissot boss Francois Thiébaud from France (BaselWorld, SWATCH Group SA)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Paris 'Love Nest' & Debian Outreachy: from Lycée Lakanal to ENS Cachan, Cr@ns, nepotism
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk in 3 Hours, Then in the Technical University of Munich (Germany) Next Week
Richard Stallman at TUM on 21.10.2025 18:00, MW2001
Arnaud Parreaux lost case defending rogue employer
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Mathieu Elias Parreaux declared bankrupt in Switzerland
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Breakdown of the Rule of Law and Patent Law in the European Union (EU)
The EPO cannot recruit suitably qualified patent examiners this way, let alone retain them
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Good Films, Wizard of Earthsea, Upgrading the Steam Controller's Stick
Links for the day
Leaks and Whistleblowers: Our Plan for Today
Society simply cannot advance when too many people self-censor
It's Not Justice When One Side Denies the Other Side the Ability to Even Speak
At this stage, Brett Wilson LLP is in my humble opinion acting in contempt of the Court
Links 13/10/2025: Australian Catholic University Uses Slop to Libel Students, Canada Threatens to Kill Beluga Whales
Links for the day
How Not to Silence Tux Machines (It'll Only Backfire, Badly)
defending Microsoft while attacking this site
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT and Google News
It seems abundantly clear that Google News and Google in general participates in the slop epidemic
Vincent Danjean (not INTERPOL), Claire Bardel & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Christmas lynchings: Martin Krafft (madduck), Penny Leach (mjollnir) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Birthdays and "Committee Unable to Contact Nobel Prize Winner"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 12, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 12, 2025
The Same People Who Attacked Richard Stallman (RMS) Are Attacking Daniel Pocock to Discourage People From Listening to His Information
Pocock is being demonised for the same reasons and by the same people who attack RMS
Your Typical Anti-Richard Stallman (RMS) Cancellist
"About the RMS cancellation"
Richard Stallman (RMS) Has Announced His Talk in Rome Less Than 20 Hours in Advance (and on a Sunday)
Why did he wait until the night before?
We Are Safe in a Modern "Tech" Society, Right?
People are safer if they control their own computing
GNU Tools Cauldron Event in Portugal: Videos Now Available via Invidious
Go have a look
The Way Things Are Going, They May Soon Stop Saying "Web Address" and Instead Say "Chrome Address"
The Web isn't built or based around open Web standards anymore. It's centered around user-agent.
Microsoft as a Golden Cage
"I was laid off by Microsoft and can't find a job. I'm weeks away from giving up my apartment and moving across the country to live with family."
Weekend Discussion About How IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Will Cause "Enshittification" for Users
"I worked at a software company that was acquired by IBM so I knew it was game over for RedHat the day they were acquired"
Brett Wilson LLP Getting Sued by Its Very Own Clients, a Legal Story That Has Made the Mainstream News (Law360)
Law360 or Law.com are about as mainstream as one can get in that "sector" (litigation 'industry')
Slopwatch: GNU/Linux Sites That Became Slopfarms and Spamfarms
The Web is a mess and "Linux" or "Ubuntu" sites became part of the problem
Richard Stallman's Talk 25 Hours Away, Aula Magna Palazzo del Rettorato (CU001), Sapienza Università di Roma (Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5)
The talk is 25 hours away and we see some QR code for it
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: Watches, the Depression of 2026, Gamboling with Odds
Links for the day
Links 12/10/2025: 'False' DMCA Claims and Slop Facing Perils Again (the Hype Wears Off)
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Lost Privacy Case in Austria and Its Latest Moves Make a Complete Ban Seem Imperative
Microsoft is not a software company, it's a spying agency that uses software to collect data
The Register MS: Microsoft is the Security Expert, Not the Prime Culprit, So Buy More Microsoft
This front page feature is devoid of any actual substance, it's just Microsoft copypasta
Stefano Zacchiroli (Zack) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Lucas Nussbaum & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: "Palm Computering", Further Exploration of Slide Rules, and Key Takeaways from The Well-Grounded Rubyist
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 11, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 11, 2025
Tomorrow: Founder of the Free Software Foundation and of GNU/Linux, Richard Stallman, Speaks in Roma (Rome), Italy at 4PM
GNU/Linux is more important than ever in this dystopian world
Microsoft and Apple Are Rare Topics in Geminispace
in Geminispace it's rather safe to assume everyone is into BSD, GNU/Linux, and sometimes retro