Re: Discussion - non-free software removal
>>"John" == John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> writes:
John> Definately a mix. I propose this GR because:
John> 1. Maintaining non-free software is a drain on resources that
John> our project should be devoting to Free software.
The project does not marshall resources like a company does;
people work on what they please. So this is not a zero sum game; if
non-free packages are not easily accessible to me, I'll have less
time to spare for the project since I'll be spending time looking
for, building, fixing bugs on, packages that I can't do without.
John> 3. Our social contract stipulates already that our operating
John> system does not contain non-free software. I see no reason
John> why we need to be offering it alongside the operating
John> system.
Because our social contract also says that we recognize that
reasonable people, committed to ultimate freedom of computing,
may still need to run non-free software, and until such time
that they can switch, we, the debian project, shall support them in
their endeavors?
John> 1. Packages currently in non-free could simply be altered slightly and move
John> into contrib. contrib would have an apt-gettable "installer"
John> package that would go out and download the source (or binaries,
John> as applicable) from the package's master site, and
John> build/install them. Our existing dependency system would take
John> care of all of that. Debian's conscience would be clean and
John> users would be happy. Users would likely need to make no
John> modifications to configuration.
I can see tis sucking a lot of time away from Debian, as
people go and work this far more complex schema, with far more likely
hood of failure, and changes it everytime upstream sneezes.
I think this would seriously hurt the project far more than
providing archive services.
manoj
--
Isn't it strange that the same people that laugh at gypsy fortune
tellers take economists seriously?
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
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