Re: General Resolution: Removing non-free
Robert Bihlmeyer <robbe@orcus.priv.at> writes:
>
> Branden Robinson <branden@ecn.purdue.edu> writes:
>
> > This resolution will do NOTHING to prevent users from downloading, using,
> > compiling from source (if available), modifying, etc. non-free software.
>
> It will just make it much more inconvenient for them.
>
> The question is whether it pays to be fundamental on this issue.
And IME, being as fundamental as this proposed resolution suggests is
a very bad plan. Yes, I know Debian is not a popularity contest, but I
think that's missing the point. Debian has to be usable by the
*developers*. There are packages in non-free that I need to do my
work, furfil my user's requirements[1], and be a
developer[2]. And in fact being able to say "Use a free-software based
distribution - like Debian" is IMHO good for the FS community; but
inevitably people you say this to will ask "is trn packaged? what
about quake {shareware version} and xearther, or netscape?" - if I say
"no", then they'll go use RedHat, thinking that FS people are all
zealots without the ability to be pragmatic.
Certainly, it is good to encourage the development of free
alternatives to non-free software. Banning Debian developers from
uploading non-free software to Debian isn't going to help that at
all. And yes, sure people can compile stuff themselves, but some
Debian users will lack the expertise to get things configured
correctly, and we'll then lose all the work that has gone into getting
(eg trn) relatively bug-free and usable.
I don't see that this resolution is advantageous to Debian at all. All
it will do is make us (and so the free software comminuty at large)
look like a bunch of zealots. We should be pragmatic, and accept that
whilst there remains non-free software that people want to use, we
should a) write better free software and b) in the mean time provide
the architecture to support that non-free software as best as
possible.
Matthew
[1]They request non-free software for which there isn't an adequate
replacement
[2]I still use PGP, for instance. I know I could shift to GPG, but I
haven't, since PGP does the job adequatly
--
"At least you know where you are with Microsoft."
"True. I just wish I'd brought a paddle."
http://www.debian.org
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