On Jan 7, 2008, at 9:14 AM, Richard Stallman wrote: > The evidence of this discussion shows that's not a good description > for what I am saying. Many of the people on this list were told that > I want OpenBSD to "erect barriers against" installing non-free > programs. And their words show that they think this means designing > the system so that installing non-free programs is impossible. (I > have not suggested such a thing.) > > My usage of the "recommend" fits in normal usage. If you include > program FOO in a list of programs that could be installed, implicitly > that recommends installing FOO as an option for people to consider.
Not really. OpenBSD doesn't "recommend" any of the ports. What it does is makes things available for people to install. Anyone can submit and maintain a port for the project, if they so desire. The fact is, OpenBSD doesn't "recommend" any of the ports or packages, but makes the structure available for its users simply as a convenience. Oxford American Dictionary... recommend |KrekIKmend| verb [ trans. ] 1 put forward (someone or something) with approval as being suitablefor a particular purpose or role : George had recommended some local architects | a book I recommended to a friend of mine. b" advise or suggest (something) as a course of action : some doctors recommend putting a board under the mattress | [with clause ] the report recommended that criminal charges be brought. b" [ trans. ] advise (someone) to do something : you are strongly recommended to seek professional advice. b" make (someone or something) appealing or desirable : the house had much to recommend it. 2 ( recommend someone/something to) archaic commend or entrust someone or something to (someone) : I devoutly recommended my spirit to its maker. If you'd bothered researching yourself, you may have read this: http://openbsd.org/faq/faq15.html#Intro > Perhaps "implicitly recommend" would be a clearer description of this > particular case. Not really, no. Many of the ports are not available as packages. As has been repeatedly explained.