GNU LibreJS

#1

Post by sciurus » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 7:09 PM UTC

Re: GNU LibreJS

#2

Post by aaronbrethorst » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 7:54 PM UTC

Apparently it adds a "Complain" tab to your browser when it detects offensive JavaScript: https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/manual/librejs.html#Com...

Re: GNU LibreJS

#3

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 7:55 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: GNU LibreJS

#4

Post by Zikes » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 8:04 PM UTC

The linked treatise on JavaScript sounds almost satirical to me[1].

> Our tentative policy is to consider a JavaScript program nontrivial if:

> it makes an AJAX request or is loaded along with scripts that make an AJAX request,

Sometimes I think RMS would be happier if the web had just stopped development after the release of the Mosaic browser.

[1] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html

Re: GNU LibreJS

#5

Post by wvenable » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 8:05 PM UTC

The majority of the sites on the web are non-free software that you interact with -- the browser is effectively a remote terminal. Whether or not large JavaScript is involved seems secondary. I understand the distinction between code running on a remote server and code distributed to me and run the browser but that seems like a more of a technical distinction than a moral one.

(In terms of my own raw time, the percentage of open source[1] software the web I interact with daily is surprisingly high)

[1] Unsure of exact licensing compatibility so I can't say it's all Free Software.

Re: GNU LibreJS

#6

Post by striking » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 8:07 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #2

Apparently it adds a "Complain" tab to your browser when it detects offensive JavaScript: https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/manual/librejs.html#Com...

That's just what the world needs. More bikeshedding about "offensive JavaScript".

Offensive JS includes:

"It makes an AJAX request or is loaded along with scripts that make an AJAX request" and "Calling methods with the square bracket notation" and "Using any other construct than a string literal with certain methods (Obj.write, Obj.createElement, …)."

If it includes something like the above (which 99% of HTML frameworks do) and it doesn't have a free license statement, should people really complain about it?

Like, fine. Sure. You don't want to run non-free JS. Okay. But there's no reason to waste someone's time complaining about it, either.

How is anyone supposed to take this seriously?

Re: GNU LibreJS

#7

Post by DanielDent » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

Just wait until they discover NaCL, PNaCL, ASM.js, and web assembly...

Re: GNU LibreJS

#8

Post by jff » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 8:19 PM UTC

Zikes wrote: post #4

The linked treatise on JavaScript sounds almost satirical to me[1]. > Our tentative policy is to consider a JavaScript program nontrivial if: > it makes an AJAX request or is loaded along with scripts that make an AJAX request, Sometimes I think RMS would be happier if the web had just stopped development after the release of the Mosaic browser. [1] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html

> Sometimes I think RMS would be happier if the web had just stopped development after the release of the Mosaic browser

Sometimes I look at modern websites and think I'd be happier too.

Re: GNU LibreJS

#9

Post by andremendes » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 8:20 PM UTC

Asides the core debate, it makes browsing way slower than I'd expect for an extension of this kind.

Re: GNU LibreJS

#10

Post by hoodoof » Fri, Apr 29, 2016, 8:20 PM UTC

This is from people who like to turn off JavaScript in a browser, right?

Sort of a weird Camelot-esque quest for freedom.