On Wed, Oct 01, 2003 at 02:53:21PM -0600, Barak Pearlmutter wrote:
> I wrote:
>
> > ... we won't go on a snippet witch hunt, but we also won't
> > encourage snippets or even really talk about them. That would be
> > my preference.
>
> Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org> replied:
>
> > I fail to see how this [argument] substantially differs from the one I
> > already made:
>
> Well this is good. So we'd agree that, as a practical matter, we
> should not file bugs about snippets, not worry about them, not talk
> about them, and just leave snippet-related issues to the discretion of
> individual package maintainers. This is how I'd describe what we've
> done in the past, so if you think that is a continuation of current
> and historic Debian practice then we agree about that as well.
>
> If that is a fair summary, I think we can declare this thread closed!
>
> Truly a happy day in debian-legal.
Er. That certainly isn't what I got from Branden's statements. The
difference might, in fact, be fairly subtle, but it is also fairly
important.
The difference that I see boils down to this: while it might be morally
upstanding and forthright to investigate every file in every package for
the licensing terms and make sure that they are, in fact, 100% Free
Oats, this is a task of such size and scope as to be impractical to
accomplish in the short term.
However, that does *not* remove the responsibility to deal with a
situation that we *know of* already - normally summarized by "a filed
bug". And, in fact, it would behoove us all to check *our own* packages
for such things, and *as possible*, check others, without necessarily
expecting that we have the resources to sweep through every file and
inspect it, unless and until either:
1) We get to it, in the normal course of business, or
2) Someone makes an issue of it (thus pushing it to the top of the queue)
It isn't deliberate ignorance (as in don't ask, don't tell) - it's measured
ignorance that, in an ideal world, we could fix immediately, which takes
time and effort in the real world, and which we are (should be) in the
process of fixing. If someone hands us a specific point, we're no longer
ignorant of it, and should act upon it with all due diligence and speed,
just like any other bug.
--
Joel Baker <fenton@debian.org> ,''`.
Debian GNU NetBSD/i386 porter : :' :
`. `'
`-
Attachment:
pgplwi9xzRWrS.pgp
Description: PGP signature