Re: mpeg encoder patents, Was: Bug#501190: ITP: moonlight

[Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org>]

On Wed, Oct 08 2008, Clint Adams wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 08, 2008 at 04:37:26PM -0500, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
>>         So don't. Don't put any of the patent encumbered sources in main
>>  either -- there is nothing that says patent infringement does not
>>  happen as source code.
>> 
>>         That would meet the current policy as well.
>> 
>>         the patent encumbered software would then be treated much like
>>  we do non-free. Might not have much of an OS left, after that, but
>>  hey. We will have stopped pretending that patent enforcement is one of
>>  our responsibilities or that we expose ourself to any kind of liability
>>  by distributing code that may or may not be patent-encumbered. 
>
> What? No. By identifying and trying to keep out patent-encumbered
> sources, we do exactly the opposite.

        What I was arguing against was having sources in main produce
 binaries in patent encumbered repos, and also agains packages in main
 build-depending on packages in patent encumbered repos.

        I have nothing against removing stuff that would brig liability
 on Debian, the developers, or the users.

        manoj
-- 
If you notice that a person is deceiving you, they must not be deceiving
you very well.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/~srivasta/>  
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