Re: RFS: kmenc15 - An advanced Qt/KDE MEncoder frontend.

[Shaun Jackman <sjackman@gmail.com>]

> That's not true. There are many packages in contrib which do not have
> all their dependencies in non-free. E.g., the bunch of java packages
> which do not work with anything but a non-free java compiler -- a java
> compiler which Debian itself cannot distribute (and therefor is not in
> non-free).

I maintain one of those packages, and it build-depends on
java2-compiler and depends on java2-runtime and java-virtual-machine.
All these dependencies are satisfiable in main/contrib. Java packages
are unique because most pacakages are architecture-all and are not
rebuilt. Now that I look at it, it doesn't seem entirely kosher, but
it works.

> A package in main must not depend on any software outside of main, and
> must be DFSG-free; A package in contrib must be DFSG-free; A package in
> non-free must be legally distributable by Debian.
> 
> There are no further restrictions than the above.

Perhaps that's true -- I must do a little reading. However, if you
upload a package to contrib that build-depends on a package not in
contrib or non-free, you'll get a FTBFS RC bug filed against you
before you blink. To me, a package in contrib with an unfixable RC bug
should not be in the archive.

Cheers,
Shaun