On Sat, May 30, 1998 at 10:48:12PM -0400, Raul Miller wrote:
> Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> > I wouldn't worry about the FSSTND, though, since the FHS *is* free,
> > and will replace the FSSTND in our next release.
> I wouldn't worry about it, but I'd put it in non-free (with a
> note indicating how to get a copy and why it's such a pain).
Forgive me, but this seems silly.
Standards like this need to be a part of the main distribution, if only
to keep in line with our "packages in main should be able to be built
using only packages in main" policy. And while it would be wonderful
to end up with a distribution that is *entirely* free, including its
software, documentation, the standards it's based on and everything
else -- we're not going to get that happening for hamm, so please,
let's *not* stress over things like the FSSTND not following the letter
of the Social Contract.
A little while ago we more or less agreed that it was perfectly reasonable
to temporarily not conform to policy if policy appeared to be wrong in
the specific circumstances of a particular package at least while the
issue was under discussion.
In this case, a discussion *has* been started on -policy and -devel,
opinion is *not* entirely directed against the package, and as far as
I can tell there's no particular reason to make any changes until this
is resolved.
FWIW, I think the same thing applies to the ircii considerations --
the copyright doesn't conform to the letter of policy (but does conform
to the intent, according to its upstream authors even), and it's in the
process of getting changed now.
So please, let's not get obsessive about the details and lose the big
picture.
We're creating a free operating system.
We're allowed, if we want, to start with the "operating system" part and
work towards the "free" part if we like; we don't *have* to start with the
"free" part, and work towards an "operating system".
IMHO, FWIW, YMMV, etc.
Cheers,
aj
--
Anthony Towns <aj@humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. PGP encrypted mail preferred.
``It's not a vision, or a fear. It's just a thought.''
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