Re: Programs contain ads - acceptable for packaging for Debian?
On Thu, 20 Jun 2019, Samuel Thibault wrote:
> Bagas Sanjaya, le jeu. 20 juin 2019 20:16:08 +0700, a ecrit:
> > On 20/06/19 20.11, W. Martin Borgert wrote:
> > > Quoting Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com>:
> > > > Such ads is displayed only when users have Internet connection, and
> > > > there is no way to patch ZZZ in order to remove ads (or we have to
> > > > buy "pro" version which doesn't contain ads and adds more features).
> > >
> > > So it's not free software anyway and does not belong to Debian main.
> > > It might be suitable for non-free, but I wonder whether it's worth
> > > the trouble to package it.
> > >
> > Is it implied that all programs which contain ads are non-free and not
> > suitable for Debian main?
> >
> > But ZZZ hypothetical package licensed under DFSG-compliant license (such as
> > GPL).
>
> The concern here is "there is no way to patch ZZZ in order to". If there
> is no way to make the program do what you want, it is not free.
And if there is a [legal, license-compliant] way, but it would raise
major stink with upstream, we don't package it either even if it is
DFSG-compliant.
Not everything that complies to the DFSG is *desirable* in Debian, you
can alwasy package it for your own use, obviously, but don't upload it.
NOTE: unobtrusive, static, non-obnoxious "please donate" messages in a
splash screen at program startup are *NOT* the same as "ad displaying":
we pretty much tolerate such static requests for contributions from
upstream without any fuss. For one, they're not a security risk, and
also not a privacy risk, unlike anything that downloads advertisements
when it can.
NOTE2: if upstream is fine with the full removal of the advertising
engine and the license allows it then it would be ok to remove it and
upload to Debian with the advertisement engine removed.
--
Henrique Holschuh
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