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# Frequently Questioned Questions

## APE — The ANSI/POSIX Environment

What is the future of APE?  Are we interested in accepting major
improvements to it or is it something that we should strive to eliminate
from base system in the future?

As of now 9front has some major dependencies on APE-based software,
namely: `gs(1)`, `ape/patch(1)`, various `troff(1)` related utilities,
audio codecs, and a whole bucket of external software.

Most of these appear to be on a path to be replaced by native
alternatives: Sigrid's `pdffs(1)`, Ori's `patch(1)`, and so on.

Sigrid's [Native Porting Environment](https://git.sr.ht/~ft/npe)
seems like a good alternative.

After APE dependencies in the base system are minimized or eliminated
entirely it seems to follow that APE shall be removed.

I (kvik) am in favor of this option.  APE living its own life
seems preferable from letting it rot behind bars maintained by
philosophic objections of some contributors.