Bug#1184: kermit blurb in postinst inappropriate
iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) said:
> Bill Mitchell writes in a message sent to the Kermit people:
> > 5. I ask if it'd be OK for us to make debian kermit available via
> > ftp. I mention that we have install-time messages, and offer
> > to refer users to Columbia, and to mention the "Using C-Kermit"
> > book, in these install-time messages. I get a verbal OK on this.
> >
> > That's where we currently stand on this. I've added the blurb you quote
> > below to the install-time message, and we have kermit in the "non-free"
> > section of the distribution on ftp.debian.org.
>
> IMO mentioning that we have install-time messages may have been a
> mistake.
May be. I was on the phone with Frank, and I felt that he was at the
point where he was about to say that he, speaking for Columbia, didn't
even want us to distribute kermit from our ftp site. The legalities
of that could be argued, I think, but our position on similar issues
in the past has been that if the author doesn't want us to distribute it,
we'll respect his wishes. The discussion of the install-time message
developed out of that. Perhaps it was a mistake.
> These install-time messages are not intended for the distribution of
> legal blurbs - that's what /usr/doc/copyright is for. If every
> package were to produce its legal blurb on installation we couldn't
> see the wood for the trees.
>
> I suspect that there is a slippery slope here. Every package
> maintainer thinks that their packages' install-time messages are
> important, because they think that their packages are. However, in
> the grand scheme of things this often isn't the case.
If it comes to that, we have the option of dropping kermit entirely
because we don't want to display the install-time message. I'm
hopeful that we won't do that. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to
to remove the install-time message too, or modify it so that it's
less onerous. I'd rather display it, though, than drop the kermit
package.
Anyhow, Frank said to drop him an email in a couple of weeks. Let's
do that, and see what comes out of it. If someone else would rather
do that instead of me, that's OK with me.
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