Re: Can we pull KDE?

[Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>]

Raul Miller <rdm@test.legislate.com> writes:

> I think we should just pull the kde packages out of debian.  When new
> packages are available with proper copyrights, we can distribute those.

I don't agree that the copyright/licensing violations are grievous
enough to justify this.

We should work with the KDE guys to resolve the worst problems, and
let it go at that.

There is a difference of opinion on how the GPL should be interpreted
with regards to Qt.  Why can't we accept that?  I personally believe
there is enough "slap" in the GPL license that it can be used with a
library such as Qt (ie. emacs can be compiled against Motif).

I don't see any evidence that there exists people who are worked up
enough over the licensing that they'd be willing to pursue legal
action.  If there were "real" license problems, I'm sure the KDE guys
would rectify the problem (or SuSE and Caldera would drop KDE).

This whole thing is ridiculous.  Especially when you consider that
"contrib" isn't even an official part of Debian.  I thought putting
KDE in contrib was reasonable enough of a "sanction" against the KDE
guys for using Qt.  Apparently that isn't enough for some people.

I like Debian.  It's really plugged into the Linux community.  But the
KDE guys are part of the community as well.  I'd guess that 80% of the
Linux community harbours no bad feelings against KDE.  Some people
want to declare war, and use Debian as a weapon.  That reflects back
on us.  I don't want any part of that.

Cheers,

 - Jim