On Tue, Sep 13, 2005 at 09:50:00PM +1000, Brian May wrote: > >>>>> "Steve" == Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> writes: > Steve> On Sun, Sep 11, 2005 at 09:46:26PM -0700, Thomas Bushnell > Steve> BSG wrote: > >> I don't care about the callback. The package maintainers have > >> the job of deciding whether the packages implement the same ABI > >> or not. DECIDE. > >> If the answer is "yes", then they should both be drop-in > >> replacements, and Provide the same virtual package. > Steve> That isn't really an option so long as we have the > Steve> GPL/OpenSSL license issue to deal with, regardless of > Steve> whether the ABI matches. > If you take this argument to its extreme, then there would be a > problem with package X if the administrator set it up to use PAM > modules that use incompatible libraries. Mmm, I didn't actually *give* an argument here; the argument has been made many times before on -legal, and it amounts to, "if we distribute packages that cause a GPL-incompatible implementation to be pulled in and used *by default*, how is this different from distributing binaries statically linked against that library?" So no, the above concern about GPLed PAM modules doesn't follow from the argument, because administrators can do whatever they want on their own systems, and Debian never enables GPL-licensed PAM modules automatically. > I mean... if the administrator wants to use a library that happens to > have an incompatible licence, isn't this his/her business? Can't we > just say use the gnutls version as the default? Do you not give packages any option at all to specify that they want the OpenSSL-enhanced version, then? If you do, what happens if you have a core package that *does* depend on that version, thus effectively changing the default? If you *don't* give them an option, to what extent does it actually benefit us to have the OpenSSL version packaged? -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. vorlon@debian.org http://www.debian.org/
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