Re: Discussion - non-free software removal
On Mon, Nov 18, 2002 at 04:35:13PM -0500, Brian T. Sniffen wrote:
> Jim Penny <jpenny@universal-fasteners.com> writes:
>
> > Second, modify apt so that unofficial packages could not be upgraded at
> > the same time as official packages. That is, you would have to do
> > apt-get install unofficial foo
> > or
> > apt-get upgrade unofficial.
>
> What happens when somebody wants to contribute the free program
> apt-not-crippleware to the main archive?
Presumably this is policy. apt-get-not-crippleware is rejected. or maybe,
since apt-get is already a commmand line, and it has to use a different
command name, the name
apt-get-i-do-not-care-about-non-free-distinction could be used. ;-)
Look, I am trying to craft a compromise, one that lets the developers
who wish to package redistributable but non-DSFG software to continue to
use the Debian archives, bug tracking system, etc. The combination
of renaming non-free to unoffical, and making an "unofficial" user
issue a special command to access "unoffical" archives would appear
to go a long way towards accomodating the concerns of those who are
worried about confusion of Debian's distribution proper, and what is
now called non-free.
This will not appeal to the "the only good software is DSFG software"
cohort. It will not appeal strongly to those who think that "any
software that can legally be redistributed should be part of Debian".
But it may appeal to those who respect the judgement of Debian
maintainers who wish to package non-free software, but who are concerned
about potential confusion on the part of users who do not understand the
distinction.
And this actually can be made fairly unobtrusive.
apt-get install unofficial foo
is not much harder than
apt-get install foo.
On apt-get upgrade, it is not unusual to see something like:
The following packages have been kept back
gnome gnome-applets libpaperg
Add another stanza.
The following unofficial packages have updated versions available.
To upgrade them, use apt-get unofficial upgrade
foo foobar barfoo
Look at this as an occasional "unofficial" tax. It makes it marginally
less desirable to use unofficial, but still permits it. And it provides
an occasional reminder that some package is not part of the main
distribution.
Jim Penny
>
> -Brian
>
> --
> Brian Sniffen bts@alum.mit.edu
> http://www.evenmere.org/~bts/
> Available for security-related employment.
>
Reply to: