Re: RE-PROPOSED: The Dictator Test

[lex@cc.gatech.edu]

Florian Weimer <fw@deneb.enyo.de> wrote:
> In addition, there seems to be a general consensus in Debian *against*
> the Dictator Test.  Nobody except me to mind that CA certificates come
> with a lot of obnoxious licensing conditions (if we have a license to
> distribute them at all).
> 

Just so you know, Florian, I hate the Dictator Test, too.  Debian should
be about free software, period.  It should be able use, modification,
and distribution of software.  It should be about the presence of source
code.

The Dictator Test goes well beyond DFSG.  DFSG clause 1 merely says
that there is no fee or payment for the software.  Nothing in DFSG says
that the license must make no requirements at all.  The Dictator
Test is a stronger test.



Lex


PS -- doesn't the dictator test *support* dictators??  It is basing what
we consider to be acceptible, on what some existing power
considers to be acceptible.