Bruce> Sandra Wambold <wambold(a)xemacs.org&gt; writes: Bruce> [...] Bruce> XEmacs code can *probably* be used by anyone, but there's Bruce> always the possibility that someone (or some entity) will Bruce> come along with evidence that some bit of it is really Bruce> owned by them, and isn't really covered by the GNU GPL. This is true for all Emacs code, too. The FSF does not check carefully on contributions, but rather relies on contributors to be well-informed about their employment contracts and to faithfully get all necessary permissions and interpretations. That's why the assignment contract indemnifies the FSF against damages due to copyright (or patent) infringement. All you can say is that the probability is very very low. If you can say that. But there's no question that if an assignment should be invalid, the code would have to come out or a new license[1] negotiated with the true owner. And of course, everything true of XEmacs is true of the Linux kernel, too. And BSD/MIT X-style projects, and Aladdin Ghostscript, etc. I would guess TeX (at least from LaTeX2e on). We're in good company. All of the others are considered part of a well-rounded GNU system, and I'm willing to bet that the GNU Project proper has borrowed code from all of them. Bruce> So to try to avoid problems down the line, rms chooses not Bruce> to use random XEmacs code. That's a severe understatement. There is plenty of useful XEmacs code which is not derived from other XEmacs code, whose authorship is certain, and whose copyright is FSF- assigned[2], not included in Emacs. rms simply chooses not to _look_ at _any_ XEmacs code. He considers it a waste of his time, as all of the code is tainted by the parts that are not assigned. Footnotes: [1] Not all GNU code is FSF-assigned; the Mule component of Emacs bears the ETL copyright, and GNU Mach bears CMU's. Some Mach files apparently don't even refer to the FSF! [2] Such as footnote.el, by Steven Baur. As of Emacs 20.5a; the contribution predated the release of 20.5 by at least a year. -- University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences Tel/fax: +81 (298) 53-5091 _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ What are those straight lines for? "XEmacs rules."