There you go, so you _are_ talking about Stallman's and FSF's Free Software. Capitalization is important, otherwise misunderstandings will occur and I've seen enough of Free Software discussions on various GNU mailing lists over the years.
IMHO it is the end users who just need to create the Free Software dev setup that they want. [Mini rant follows.]
I don't think the Raspberry Pi folks can win this game. For one, mainstream devs are _really_ comfortable with powerful IDEs and Github these days. So RPi folks need to have their VS Code dev setup for mainstream. VS Code won't meet Free Software criteria -- it's more of a service these days. Arduino IDE will probably go in that direction too. VSCodium is Free Software, but someone has to test and maintain stuff.
One problem is, there are all sorts of Free Software proponents. Some are idealistic, almost activists. Some may not even want the taint of Microsoft on Github. Well, it is _impossible_ to make all of them happy.
Suppose, let's have an RPi blessed Free Software dev setup where an editor is used rather than an IDE. But some Free Software supporter will then push -- everybody uses IDEs, it's 2025 for goodness' sake, why doesn't RPi have a Free Software IDE for everyone? Shocking!
Then suppose RPi folds and decides to do a Free Software dev setup with an IDE. Then another idealistic Free Software supporter might push again -- why doesn't this IDE have AI coding, we cannot be truly free with critical features missing oh for goodness' sake, RPi must do their little bit for Freedom. You know, these things never ends, because the nature of activism is to tackle one issue after another.
I'm a dinosaur, I use a code editor for coding Pico C SDK. So aside from the question of firmware blobs, my setup is probably Free Software compliant. But the younger generation of devs will want IDEs. If the _expectation_ is for RPi to be the provider, then keeping every Free Software proponent happy will be impossible. I for one do not want to ask RPi for any more than they have already done -- they are doing a wonderful job creating and getting the hardware and software to all of us, stuff with low barriers for entry. If I want any level of Free Software compliance, I can do it myself, since there is a vast selection of suitable dev tools. Let RPi do what they do best, while Free Software proponents can solve the Free Software question for Pico SDK in the way that they want.
Thus Free Software end users should make their own decisions, do whatever audit to their heart's content, etc. No need to be asking RPi for any kind of position or statement, instead ask the actual subject matter experts, i.e. FSF, if anything needs to be clarified.
IMHO it is the end users who just need to create the Free Software dev setup that they want. [Mini rant follows.]
I don't think the Raspberry Pi folks can win this game. For one, mainstream devs are _really_ comfortable with powerful IDEs and Github these days. So RPi folks need to have their VS Code dev setup for mainstream. VS Code won't meet Free Software criteria -- it's more of a service these days. Arduino IDE will probably go in that direction too. VSCodium is Free Software, but someone has to test and maintain stuff.
One problem is, there are all sorts of Free Software proponents. Some are idealistic, almost activists. Some may not even want the taint of Microsoft on Github. Well, it is _impossible_ to make all of them happy.
Suppose, let's have an RPi blessed Free Software dev setup where an editor is used rather than an IDE. But some Free Software supporter will then push -- everybody uses IDEs, it's 2025 for goodness' sake, why doesn't RPi have a Free Software IDE for everyone? Shocking!
Then suppose RPi folds and decides to do a Free Software dev setup with an IDE. Then another idealistic Free Software supporter might push again -- why doesn't this IDE have AI coding, we cannot be truly free with critical features missing oh for goodness' sake, RPi must do their little bit for Freedom. You know, these things never ends, because the nature of activism is to tackle one issue after another.
I'm a dinosaur, I use a code editor for coding Pico C SDK. So aside from the question of firmware blobs, my setup is probably Free Software compliant. But the younger generation of devs will want IDEs. If the _expectation_ is for RPi to be the provider, then keeping every Free Software proponent happy will be impossible. I for one do not want to ask RPi for any more than they have already done -- they are doing a wonderful job creating and getting the hardware and software to all of us, stuff with low barriers for entry. If I want any level of Free Software compliance, I can do it myself, since there is a vast selection of suitable dev tools. Let RPi do what they do best, while Free Software proponents can solve the Free Software question for Pico SDK in the way that they want.
Thus Free Software end users should make their own decisions, do whatever audit to their heart's content, etc. No need to be asking RPi for any kind of position or statement, instead ask the actual subject matter experts, i.e. FSF, if anything needs to be clarified.
Statistics: Posted by katak255 — Tue Dec 02, 2025 7:39 pm