Re: freedom-subtracted.debian.org (was: Re: KDE)
On Thu, 11 Mar 1999, Joseph Carter wrote:
> > It's relatively painless to implement and doesn't add any significant
> > inconvenience to the user. It also makes the point. Doesn't it?
>
> "vrms"?
Virtual RMS. It's a .deb, part of the standard dist (at least on potato).
It tells you about all of the packages that are non-free. It runs on the
command line, but the package also installs it as a monthly cron job by
default.
I've been thinking about this, and it definitely has some appeal. It
doesn't limit the user's choices, and it might actually educate them. You
could even take it a step further and require non-free .debs to have a
field in them that describes *why* the package is "non-free" (patent
restrictions, license doesn't allow modified distribution of modified
binaries, etc.). Then vrms could list this information along with the
package.
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