Subject: Re: bug#76120: [PATCH] Expose the native sharing dialog (macOS)

From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2025 08:33:14 -0800

Po Lu <[email-masked]> writes:

> I cannot accept this--it amounts to overt if well-intentioned sabotage
> of the GNU project's raison d'etre.  It is widely known that AirDrop is
> as thoroughly restrictive as the rest of Apple's computer services, and
> it is additionally an engine of grotesque censorship, with which every
> move towards reconciliation renders it more difficult to improve and
> promote Emacs in good conscience, and by putting across the reasoning
> behind my protests, I hope to enable others to explain why this is so
> more effectively than I can.

Despite finding the tone here rather exaggerated, things like these
actually makes me appreciate the implacability:
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/02/uk-is-ordering-apple-to-break-its-own-encryption.html

While I fully appreciate Eli's argument that the word "Share" is mostly
hype, a problem that is harder to avoid is that the content of the
"Share" menu is not necessarily customizable or controlled by users.

OTOH, nothing on a macOS machine is ultimately controlled by the user,
so Eli is right that we either have to draw the line somewhere, or
desupport the platform completely.  The latter would not help our cause.

In this context, a minor convenience feature that is mostly equivalent
to "Open with" doesn't strike me as the best place to put our heels in
the ground.  I wouldn't say that it's unproblematic, because nothing is
as far as proprietary systems go.  However, it's also not clear that
anything principled is at stake, given that modulo packaging we can
provide equivalent functionality on GNU/Linux, let alone that this is a
decision that GNU will live or die by.

The question of where to draw the line is not easy, and it's up to the
maintainers to decide.  Our decision has been made clear, as has the
counter-arguments, and only Richard is in a position to overrule that.