Re: Bug#30739: When a tiny part of a package uses non-free libraries
Michael Meskes wrote:
> I do think it should go into main, yes.
>
> Otherwise, as a maintainer, I would just provide the program
> [that depends on non-free] under /usr/doc to work around this stuff.
I, Peter S Galbraith, wrote:
> I'd read that as contempt for the DFSG.
Craig Sanders wrote:
> i wouldn't. i'd read it as a reasonable compromise solution to the
> problem. there are many executables (mostly compressed perl and sh
> script examples) under /usr/doc.
But `perl' and `sh' are both standard packages. You don't need
to depend on them.
I saw the act of moving a binary /usr/bin/contrib-program to
/usr/doc/PACKAGE/contrib-program as just a sneaky way to get
around the DFSG and avoid dependencies.
As someone has posted since, perhaps he meant placing the source
of the contrib-program to /usr/doc.
As Michael Meskes has since posted, the problem appears to be a
very different interpretation of what dependencies mean. I guess
policy needs to be clarified in this respect (because I wasn't
the only one to have a different interpretation than Michael).
> i certainly wouldn't accuse someone like michael (who has demonstrated
> a strong committment to the ideals of free software in debates on the
> debian lists over the last few years) of having contempt for the DFSG.
That's why I wrote it the way I did:
`I'd read that as contempt [if you actually did that, but you haven't]'
I think he's wrong to currently include a contrib binary in main,
but I think he's doing it because he misunderstands dependencies
(not by comtempt). But perhaps I'm the one who misunderstands
them.
I liked to people point out that Debian dependencies make sure
that every installed bianry works, but Michael's interpretation
of the dependencies (if he's correct) means that this is not
true.
--
Peter Galbraith, research scientist <GalbraithP@dfo-mpo.gc.ca>
Maurice Lamontagne Institute, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada
P.O. Box 1000, Mont-Joli Qc, G5H 3Z4 Canada. 418-775-0852 FAX: 775-0546
6623'rd GNU/Linux user at the Counter - http://counter.li.org/
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