Re: Free non-software stuff and what does it mean. [was Re: General Resolution: Force AMD64 into Sarge]
On Sat, Jul 24, 2004 at 10:02:03AM +0100, Andrew Suffield wrote:
> > I think this is a reasonable approach, in principle, as long as the word
> > "program" is removed from DFSG#1, #4, #6, #7, #8 and #9--so that it's
> > only used in #2. (s/program/work/ the rest, perhaps.)
>
> Special-casing ELF files is nuts. Why the fuck try to dodge providing
> source? What is this supposed to accomplish?
Woah, settle down. :)
I don't have a strong opinion about source for non-executables, hence my
desire for further discussion. His suggestion is a reasonable approach
for implementing his opinion.
The question, for me, is whether starting to require this source is useful
for Debian, balanced against the cost of throwing out stuff that clearly
fails it, and the added maintenance costs (maintainers having to track down
sources).
My intuition is that it's a very good thing for maintainers to get these
sources and make them available, but that requiring it may be an unworthwhile
fight (a fight that would be forced on all maintainers, remember); but I'm on the
fence (and have been for a while; I've seen very few really convincing arguments
on either side, so I've been stuck up here).
--
Glenn Maynard
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