Re: KDE

[Martin Held <heldm@ucs.orst.edu>]

On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, Navindra Umanee wrote:

> Montreal Tue Mar  2 23:55:16 1999
> 
> Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@pilot.msu.edu> wrote:
> >    What difference does it make?  contrib/ or non-free/ are as good as
> >    main/.  But in this case, I think you're wrong, KDE has been pulled
> >    completely (even though they could have left kdelibs).
> > 
> > contrib and non-free are not as good as main.  They are not part of
> > the Debian distribution.  We tolerate their presence on the ftp for
> > the benefit of our users.
> 
> In practical terms, contrib, non-free and main are just different
> directories.

As was nearly said, they may be just different directories maybe in
simplification, but they have -huge- meaning. Things that are in main
should follow the DFSG, so that debian remains 100% free, and that's
what's disributed. Things in contrib and non-free are, well, not truly
free. (dunno the difference between contrib and non-free, but I can tell
you they -dont- belong in the main directory for good reason, imho).  From
what I also know, KDE uses non-gpl software that doens't truly fit behind
debian's software creation policy, and thus belongs in the
non-free/contrib sections.  (something with TrollTech?)

My 1.5236 cents.  Please correct if I'm wrong about KDE thing or what
the special meanings of contrib and non-free are (I should be somewhat on
par tho).

Do Svidonia,

Martin Held
heldm@ucs.orst.edu
-------------------
The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.