Re: Hypocrisy of Debian (was: Sorry, no more RC bugs for non-free data in main ...)

[Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org>]

* Markus Laire (malaire@gmail.com) [060830 15:01]:
> I have somewhat similar feelings after I found out that the
> "cdrtools"-package[1] included in Debian isn't DFSG-free, but is still
> included in main.
> 
> (Even worse, its license might even be illegal because it's GPLv2 +
> incombatible restrictions)
> 
> This problem was mentioned in this list on _2004_ but cdrtools still
> hasn't been removed from Debian (see [2]). IMHO "hypocrisy" is perfect
> word to describe such behaviour.

"This list" isn't the place where everybody needs to jump if someone
sends a mail. If you want to make sure this issue is taken up, please
file an RC bug (what happened in the meantime), if it is an release
critical issue.

> I used to believe that Debian only included legal, DFSG-free software
> in main, but "cdrtools" fiasco seems to prove that I was wrong.

As somebody filed an RC-bug against cdrtools for this reason, we knew
that we have to fix that prior to release of etch.

However, I don't think that in an perfect world, we should jump to
conclusions. Debian isn't only about free software, but also about our
users. So, carefully going forward is IMHO the best we could do, and
have done. And, if you look from todays perspective, this issue was
resolved.

So, if you think something is an important issue, *you* need to make
sure it is actually mentioned in the right places. And please don't cry
because people are not jumping to conclusions, but take the proper time
to create a proper solution.


Cheers,
Andi