On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 18:54:43 +0100 Ole Streicher wrote: > Francesco Poli <invernomuto@paranoici.org> writes: [...] > > If one of them (or both) are not available in Debian main (under > > DFSG-free terms), then I think the "final data" cannot be in Debian > > main, either... > > This would however prevent us from having almost *any* scientific data > in Debian: Even a simple value as the charge of an electron is based on > some raw data and some processing, which is usually not delivered when > a program provides this number. > > And the processing tools themself again contain some "final data", which > again would require (to have them free in your terms) to deliver their > raw data, and their processing chain. Which again will have the same > problem. > > This finally would mean that you need (almost) the whole scientific > (physics) history and discussion as an automated processing chain in > Debian. If this is what you meant, then I must have misread your reasoning. I apologize. I think that a work that includes data (such as the electric charge of an electron) *can* be in source form, without the need to ship all the raw measurements that brought us to the determination of good values for these data, or to build-depend on the whole analysis process that brought us to that same determination. What's good about the definition of source is that it is flexible enough to cope with many corner cases. In the "scientific data" case, changing the raw measurements and/or the analysis process is probably more like taking a new digital photograph (perhaps with a different camera, or with different camera settings, or with a changed scene), than like modifying the digital photograph with some digital "special effect" or "enhancement". In other words, it is more like recreating the data from scratch, than like modifying the existing data. Hence, what we need is probably the freedom to modify the "final data", if we like to. And also the freedom to replace it with new "final data" (obtained the way we see fit, possibly with new or additional measurements and/or new processing). Source code for the "final data" may well be the "final data" themselves, as you said. -- http://www.inventati.org/frx/ There's not a second to spare! To the laboratory! ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == CA01 1147 9CD2 EFDF FB82 3925 3E1C 27E1 1F69 BFFE
Attachment:
pgpI8VwYgti69.pgp
Description: PGP signature