Re: Your comment on book-draft? Programming Essentials with Guile Scheme

"Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide" <[email protected]> Fri, 25 Jul 2025 19:35:43 +0200

Newsgroups	gmane.lisp.guile.devel
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Hi Felix,

thank you very much for your answer!

Felix Lechner <[email protected]> writes:
> If I were truly worried that the FSF was offended by my use of the GNU
> trademark, I would check with them.  If that didn't yield any results, I
> would ask an attorney.

I’m not worried that they would be offended, but I did try to reach out.
I didn’t get an answer, so I think my message drowned in noise or died
in a spam filter.

> Personally, I also hesitate to benefit from someone else's trademark.
> For example, I would avoid the impression that the owner endorsed my
> work.  I might even say in a footnote that they didn't.

That’s a good point, yes. I just added that to the preface:

This book uses Guile Scheme, the official extension language of the GNU
project but is no official product of the FSF or GNU, nor endorsed by
them. GNU is a trademark of the Free Software Foundation. You can find
Guile on gnu.org/s/guile and the FSF on fsf.org.

> As for your quote, the phrase "The extension language of the GNU
> project" seems to appear more or less on the website, but there is an
> extra word: "Guile is [...] the official extension language of the GNU
> project." [2]

> I am not sure I would personally be comfortable enough to write either
> one.  I wouldn't worry so much about the trademark but more about the
> fact that the statements are just not mine to make.  I am neither part
> of the FSF or the GNU project, so I might add quotes or a footnote
> pointing to the GNU website, or maybe even both.

Adding quotes and a link sounds like a practical way to make it work as
the quote it is intended to work: help people recognize that the book
teaches them Guile, the language to script GNU.

Thank you!

> May this message help you seek answers from the FSF or from an attorney.

Thank you very much!

> Please do not rely on anything in this letter.  I am not qualified to
> give you the advice you seek.  Please consult an expert.

I’ll reach out to GNU again.

Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein,
ohne es zu merken.
draketo.de

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