Bug#902981: Font Awesome v5 in Debian
On 2018-09-27 5:11 p.m., Rob Madole wrote:
I’m one of the core developers on the Font Awesome project. I can
answer any specific questions and I’ll try and help where I can.
Thank you for getting in touch!
Probably the first question to get out of the way is: “Will Font
Awesome open source their build tool?”
And the answer is no for the time being.
What are the other obstacles to getting version 5 added as a package?
There are no other obstacles.
To catch you up on the situation, here is a summary:
For software to be considered to be included in Debian, it must be free
software. We try to evaluate whether or not something is free software
by using the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)[1].
Font Awesome matches the DFSG on all points except one:
> The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in
source code as well as compiled form.
Font Awesome v5 is only available in compiled form, without the build
tool. This makes it incompatible with our definition of Free Software.
To help explain our definition of source code, we often refer to "All
sources in their preferred form of modification".
For example, minified JavaScript would fail that definition, even if it
could technically be considered as modifiable code.
Is there something that could be done so that Font-Awesome v5 can match
this interpretation of what is free software?
1. https://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
Thanks again,
--
Alexandre Viau
aviau@debian.org
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