Re: Free as in speech, but not as in beer
On Tue, 31 Mar 2015, Paul van der Vlis wrote:
> Do you know an example of software what is distributed by Debian when
> it's clear the development team behind it, doesn't want that?
cdrecord is a prominent example, where the developer was vehemently
against Debian distributing it, and also vehemently against distributing
a forked version.
Guess what? Debian distributed it anyway.
> The problem is, that such software does not fit in any of the existing
> repositories. The correct place of this program would be in "main",
> but people expect "free as in beer" software there. Myself included.
main is for software which meets the DFSG. Software which is only
available at no cost but cannot be modified or used without limitation
is not Free Software, and does not meet the DFSG.
The correct place for software which can be distributed by Debian but
does not meet the requirements of the DFSG is non-free.
--
Don Armstrong http://www.donarmstrong.com
Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come.
-- Tussman's Law
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