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Re: RFS: steam-powered



> The users *are* free to choose the software that's out there. The
> Debian project is also free to refuse to choose what software it
> distributes.

the key word is "distribution."  the question is whether the part of
the software to be added to the archive is distributable.  for
steam-powered, all of the software in the package is fully GPL'd, and
thus freely redistributable under the terms of the GPL.  the non-free
component is retrieved from the developer's site at runtime.  the user
is made fully aware of the actions taking place.  this type of
behavior is exactly what the contrib archive (which contains packages
that are actually not considered part of the debian system) was set up
to support.  in fact section 5 of the debian social contract makes
this very clear.

  5.  Works that do not meet our free software standards

  We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of works
  that do not conform the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have
  created contrib and non-free areas in our archive for these works.
  The packages in these areas are not part of the Debian system,
  although they have been configured for use with Debian. We
  encourage CD manufacturers to read the licenses of the packages
  in these areas and determine if they can distribute the packages on
  their CDs. Thus, although non-free works are not a part of Debian,
  we support their use and provide infrastructure for non-free packages
  (such as our bug tracking system and mailing lists).

> Issuing a proper ITP would be the best way to probe the communauty,
> since it is CCed to -devel.

ok, i will file an ITP.



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