Thank you, Debian project, for working to make a free software operating system (was: Is tabular data in binary format acceptable for Debian ?)

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org> writes:

> Once again, I would like to remind how disproportionate is the time
> that we have to spend for this kind of issues (.Rdata files, PDF
> files, documenting copyrights of source files we do not use,
> repackaging to remove windows executables, …) in order to get free
> software accepted in our free distribution. It kills the fun,
> sometimes degrades our relations with Upstream, and I have not yet
> seen a user thanking us for doing this.

I've often expressly, and in public, thanked the specific people who put
forth efforts to ensure free software in the Debian operating system. I
encourage anyone else to do this too; it's a good way to increase the
likelihood such work continues to be done.

If you need it, consider this message yet another message of thanks for
the work everyone does to make a free-software operating system, often
in the face of indifference or hostility from upstream developers
regarding the practice of free software.

-- 
 \             “To label any subject unsuitable for comedy is to admit |
  `\                                           defeat.” —Peter Sellers |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney