Savannah rejects a project because it uses GPL

[simo]

On Sun, 2006-02-12 at 09:47 +1100, Ben Finney wrote:
> On 11-Feb-2006, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
> >    Some FAQs are software (some are even kept as programs, either in
> >    general-purpose languages or specialised ones like latex or
> >    PostScript.)
> > 
> > FAQ's are not software, a computer cannot run a FAQ.
> 
> A computer can run a PostScript or LaTeX program; indeed, most of them
> are practically unreadable by a human until a computer has done so.
> 
> A FAQ document or manual is often a PostScript or LaTeX program.
> 
> Are these programs not software?
> 
> Are these programs not FAQ documents or manuals?
> 
> Some manuals are programs. Some are not. Neither case is uncommon or
> strange.

I think you blur the difference too much for convenience.
Everything can be converted into a set of instructions, does this mean
that everything is a program ?

I think that in the case of a Postscript, LaTeX or anything else, we
have that the document is a product of a program, not the program
itself. If you run the postscript program and print the result on paper,
is that not the document anymore? Of course it is, and printed paper is
not a program.

I think that stretching the concept of software or program to this
degree is just a metter of convenience, and does nothing to clarify the
discussion. It seem, honestly, just specious.

Simo.