Re: drop or keep non-free - from users viewpoint
On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 14:20:12 +0100, Sven Luther wrote:
> Err, the unattended addition of random third party packages of varrying
> quality is on of the cause of the unstability of .rpm based systems.
On a standard Debian, RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake,.. system i have not
seen any stability changes if someone installed a programm like spim. It
maybe another situation if you install additional kernel modules like
nvidia drivers, but thats binary drivers and there is no different whether
this binary comes from a deb, rpm or tar.gz package.
>> Not completely. Because Debian also recommend and suggest non-free
>> Software in there main System and promoting it on there homepage, as i
>> mentioned in my first mail.
>
> Ah ? I don't see on-free advertized on the front page, i may be blind
> though, or otherwise havez missed that. Also, i am lead to believe that
> as of the sarge release, non-free will no more be proposed to new
> installs.
Yes the installation system of sarge will definitely an improvement. But
main package still recommend or suggest non-free package which is some
kind of advertising and promoting of non-free software.
If i talk from the homepage i don't mean something like advertising
banners or something like this. But for example, if a user search in the
package database on the Debian site he will by default search also in the
non-free archive and by the right keyword the result will show him
non-free software, i think this is also some kind of promoting.
> Well, you find their call for help on the debian user support lists,
> which even if you don't respond to them, take a certain amount of time
> only to read them, and distinguish them from other legitimate help
> requests.
but i think you have this questions independent from the question whether
Debian drops non-free or not.
I think the Debian user list is, like the name says, in the first place a
user list. Users sometimes use non-free software or non-free drivers, and
than users asks users for help on a users list. This has nothing to do
with the question whether or not Debian will distribute non-free.
Today there are such questions and they will be there in the feature
independent from the non-free decision.
>> But i think it shouldn't be just the decision of the maintainer. I
>> think
>
> And, nothing is stopping the technical comite to take this decision and
> remove the package. Even you could, i think, appeal to the techincal
> comitee if the maintainer is not active enough on a bug report asking
> for a reasoned removal of the package. But i doubt you care enough for
> that, but would be happy to be proved wrong.
if a normal user can ask for removing some programs from non-free and this
will be considered from independent people (not only the maintainer) than
i will do this. So far i have not known such a place.
>> But it wouldn't legitimated and labeled by Debian.
>
> Naturally it would, at least it would be so in the imaginations of our
> users.
not more than now. If its is no more part of Debian than main package will
not suggest or recommend these packages and you will not find them in the
package database on the Debian homepage.
It would be there like apt-get.org or backports.org or rpm sources for
other Distributions but it would nothing have to do directly with Debian.
Cheers!
Markus
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