Re: Freely distributable non-free packages

[Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>]

"Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar@braincells.com> writes:

> > -wwwcount
> 
> AFAIK wwwcount should be *+ not -.  The only reason we put it in non-free 
> is that it uses GIFs hence the LZW patent.  (something I'm slowly in the
> process of remedying.)

That seems a bit silly and extreme.  There are lots of packages in our
main distribution that include gifs.  3265 .gif files, to be exact.
Even the Linux kernel source comes with a .gif file.

I would agree with not putting a package with gifs into the main
distribution if it required the use of a non-free package in order to
build it.  But as far as supplying a prebuilt .gif file with a
package, I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

Cheers,

 - Jim