Re: LCC and blobs
Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org> writes:
> On Fri, Dec 17, 2004 at 11:07:31AM -0800, Brian Nelson wrote:
>> No, a definition of "software" was never decided upon. The vote was
>> about removing the word "software" in certain places from the DFSG,
>> regardless of its definition.
>
> However, the S in DFSG means "software"; the SC was adjusted to say that
> everything in Debian is judged by the DFSG, but the DFSG was not renamed
> (for example, to mean "Debian Free Stuff Guidelines"). This means, to
> me, that everything in Debian is Software.
I'd say it's just there by legacy.
> It's a moot issue, anyway; any time the dictionary lawyers nitpick
> "software", the real point is probably long lost, anyway ... :)
Sure, how bout this:
It seems to me that if you're saying everything in Debian is software,
then your definition of software must be something equivalent to
"information stored in a way that can be read by a machine". In that
case, you'd certainly agree that the information stored on a punch card
is software. And, if a punch card can store software, then certainly a
name chiseled into the aforementioned granite could be considered
software. After all, it's entirely conceivable a machine could be made
to read it--it's not even all that different in concept from a punch
card reader. That leads to the conclusion that anything in the universe
could be considered software, since even sub-atomic particles store
information that could be considered machine-readable. In other words,
you've redefined software to mean simply "information". It's entirely
inconsistent with the common usage of the term "software", but whatever.
Has the real point been lost yet? :)
What I'm trying to get at is that software is such a nebulous term that
it really has no meaning, so it was just removed from the SC where it
caused confusion.
Just say Debian is 100% free, not that Debian is 100% free software, so
we stop making ourselves look foolish trying to define what exactly
"software" is.
--
For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you!
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