Re: Policy on Binary Firmware Fetching in Main (e.g. foo2zjs)
On Sat, Nov 10, 2007 at 12:32:08AM -0500, Michael Gilbert wrote:
> the first is that packages in main should not have any dependencies
> on non-free software. however, debian policy is not entirely clear
> on the issue. section 2.2.1 says "... the packages in main must not
> require a package outside of main for compilation or execution
> (thus, the package must not declare a 'Depends', 'Recommends', or
> 'Build-Depends' relationship on a non-main package)." this makes the
> policy clear about dependencies on "packages," but it does not
> address dependencies on other external non-free files.
Paragraph 2.2.2 probably resolves any ambiguity here:
"Examples of packages which would be included in contrib are [...]
free packages which require contrib, non-free packages or *packages
which are not in our archive at all* for compilation or execution."
That suggests to me that foo2zjs (or at least that part of it which
downloads the firmware) should be in contrib. In that respect it
sounds a bit like flashplugin-nonfree or msttcorefonts, both of which
download non-free material following installation.
> at the maintainer's discretion, the bug is currently tagged
> "wishlist" and "wont-fix." i completely disagree, but i will defer
> to debian-legal's take on the matter.
I don't know what other people's take on this will be - I'm sure most
people on this list know the ins and outs of the Debian policy better
than me - but it sounds to me like this package should be in contrib
rather than main, at least in its current form.
John
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