Subject: Re: [bug#61163] [PATCH] gnu: emacs-pretty-speedbar: New package.

From: Martin Marshall <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2023 12:53:59 -0500

Nicolas Goaziou <[email-masked]> writes:

>> +      (propagated-inputs (list font-awesome))
>
> It seems the project requires Font Awesome 6, but Guix only provides
> version 4. Is it an issue?

I don't think so.  While the default value of the `pretty-speedbar-font'
user-setting is "Font Awesome 6 Free Solid", the setting is
customizable, and any icon font may be used with the package.

Even with the default value of `pretty-speedbar-font' unchanged, my
system automatically uses the Font Awesome 4 fonts provided by Guix's
font-awesome package.

> It may be worth considering updating font-awesome in Guix first, but
> I don't know what its freedom status is nowadays (as a data point,
> Parabola provides it, tho).

There is a comment to its package definition stating this:

   ;; XXX The build scripts of version 5 are not freely licensed and
   ;; so we have to stick with version 4 for now:
   ;; <https://bugs.gnu.org/32916>

The linked discussion from 2018 concluded with all participants agreeing
that distribution of version 5 or higher would violate the Gnu FSDG.

I reviewed the Font Awesome GitHub Issues, and it seems they remain
unwilling to change the licensing terms for the build scripts, the matter
having been raised as late as March 2022.

There is a fork of Font Awesome whose stated goals are "to continue
building the amazing resource in a fully free, libre and open-source
fashion" (https://github.com/ForkAwesome/Fork-Awesome).  I haven't
used it though.

>> +      (description
>> +       "Generate and implement appealing SVG icons for the Emacs
>> Speedbar.  
>
> This is not a complete sentence.
>
> Could you send an updated patch?

Thank you for this and the other feedback provided.

I've rewritten the description along with the other suggested changes.

An updated patch is attached.

Warm regards,

-- 
Martin Marshall
[email-masked]