Re: Respect for Upstream Authors and Snippets of Interest
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On Sunday 28 September 2003 02:12, Barak Pearlmutter wrote:
> Jan Schumacher <uzs5p3@uni-bonn.de> (using an expired key) writes:
> > Fair enough. However, all of these statements are removable, and their
> > modification is probably not prohibited by the license.
>
> The flow of the argument was: one example of Debian's respect for
> upstream authors is not removing these requests and offers. If they
> were unremovable, this would have made a poor example.
If they are also modifiable, then they are most likely also DFSG-free by the
strictest interpretation. I don't think anyone has argued to remove such
texts.
> > Do you believe
> > unmodifiable essays like the GNU Manifesto could be accepted in Debian
> > with the DFSG as they stand?
>
> This is not a matter of belief. This is longstanding, and heretofore
> uncontroversial, accepted Debian practice. The GNU manifesto is in
> Debian right now, right where it belongs: /usr/share/emacs/21.2/etc/GNU
> and analogous locations in emacs20 and xemacs. The Debian ftpmasters
> are doubtless quite aware of such snippets, and have no problems with
> them. *Changing* this tradition would be a big deal.
Is this really a tradition or merely an oversight? Surely, if the resulting
package were to be found non-free, you would not want to make an exception
because it was always done that way?
> If there were a package whose bulk consisted of the GNU manifesto and
> related materials, I think people might have some problems with that.
> Certainly I would. That would also not fit the definition of a
> "snippet" I gave, which was an attempt to explain current Debian
> practice.
I do not see how the GNU manifesto would be a snippet even in a large package
like emacs. In fact, I would argue that it, or a collection of FSF political
writings, should have their own package, but in non-free. Little snippets
might slip under the radar if they are small and unconsequential enough, but
serious political essays should not be among them. That is not to say that I
have made up my mind that unmodifiable political statements should never be
part of Debian. But right now, there are no criteria by which unmodifyable
content can be accepted.
Regards
Jan
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQE/dsD+4cR0MEP0sUQRAvwlAKC6L1E1DWchzQzzcvTy9aTCWL/IZwCgzHo9
pYZ96FKXzGv9Umck00tS9Ic=
=NSIG
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Reply to: