Bonum Certa Men Certa

Nobody Needs to Write a Text Editor (or Use Geany)

By figosdev

Executive



Summary: "If free software really benefits from education, then telling people not to learn more about creating software by working on a simple text editor project makes no sense at all."

No need to bullshit: Geany is a nice text editor. If you're happy with gtk (I'm not) and you want a tabbed editor, Geany is probably about as nice as it gets. I know developers who love it, who tell me about its cool features. I also know artists who love Geany.



Pity then, that Geany is developed on GitHub. Though I didn't want a tabbed editor -- when I was still using Windows 16 years ago, and looking for a replacement for Notepad, I didn't want Notepad++. I wanted a simple Notepad replacement. I like my editors small, stable, one process and one window per file.

"I generally only use heavier software when it's justified or there is no alternative."This means my window manager is in charge of which file I'm working on, not my editor. It means each process I have open doesn't load a larger program than is needed. I use dwm, you know? I use a variety of older, sometimes newer hardware -- I like the stuff I use to accommodate that and to be lightweight. I generally only use heavier software when it's justified or there is no alternative.

When I used Leafpad (alas, GitHub) my favourite feature was that I could pipe text to it from the command line. Most editors won't let you do this, though the one I use now does. Plus I don't want to depend on gtk, Qt or KDE if I can help it. For me, this puts Geany out of the race -- though the real message here is there are lots of text editors, right? Nobody needs to write a new one. There's a text editor for everybody already. Just stop writing them!

It's funny how people talk about Free Software, but when you want to write something for your very own purposes under a free license, people act like you should either choose an existing editor (or whatever sort of tool we are talking about) or work on someone else's project that may never go in a direction that suits you. That's freedom, is it?

"I would say that it comes from Open Source, because that's a bait-and-switch scam that treats all free software programs more like a corporate product than community-based project.""The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this." -- from the Free Software Definition

"...change it so it does your computing as you wish". But if it's easier or simpler to write it yourself so it does as you wish, don't -- because that won't help any EXISTING projects, right?

In a world where software is a product, I would get this attitude. I would say that it comes from Open Source, because that's a bait-and-switch scam that treats all free software programs more like a corporate product than community-based project.

I would blame Open Source for this attitude, except I've seen it from the GNU Project itself (even from Stallman). Yes, I love blaming Open Source for things when it fits -- and it often does -- but not when I know better. Not when I've read Stallman on the GNU mailing lists saying similar things (albeit a very long time ago).

If computing is really about our freedom, then telling people not to make another text editor makes no sense at all. If free software really benefits from education, then telling people not to learn more about creating software by working on a simple text editor project makes no sense at all.

"If free software really benefits from education, then telling people not to learn more about creating software by working on a simple text editor project makes no sense at all."Sure, there are projects you could be helping, though creating a text editor really doesn't hurt them unless you're contributing your new software to some hostile cause, like Open Source or Microsoft GitHub.

Besides, if the GNU Project is going to do self destructive things like have an (ongoing!) coup around Codes of Censorship, or introduce Microsoft HarfBuzz into Emacs as it did very recently, then you are only helping by creating projects that avoid such problems.

ExecutiveYou may want an editor for example, that uses Tk instead of gtk or Qt -- no HarfBuzz! Of course some jerk will probably make Tk require HarfBuzz in the future, just like the jerk who added it to Emacs, which is why sooner or later we will probably need a new GNU-like Project -- one that actually respects your freedom, instead of selling it out to Microsoft and people like the GNOME Guix traitors.€  (Since the GNOME leadership and Guix leaders have worked together to take over GNU for corporations, we might as well call it GNOME Guix as it's the same evil force).

"...if the GNU Project is going to do self destructive things like have an (ongoing!) coup around Codes of Censorship, or introduce Microsoft HarfBuzz into Emacs as it did very recently, then you are only helping by creating projects that avoid such problems."This isn't really about Geany and it isn't really about text editors -- but they are perfectly good examples -- real examples that demonstrate the issue being talked about.

This is about freedom, and what it really means. Yes, of course you should be free to change the software. But when did that start being interpreted as don't bother writing your own when you want to? I know from the dated resources I've looked at, it started a long time ago. I really can't imagine why.

Long live rms, and Happy Hacking.

Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain)

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
GNOME GUADEC 2022 & Debian Albanian women trafficked to Mexico?
Reprinted with permission from the Free Software Fellowship
Sainsbury's: It Takes Us Up to Two Days to Respond to Customers Upon Escalation (and Sometimes Even More Than Two Days)
It not only does groceries but also many other things, even banking
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day