Re: Software in main that is throughly useless without non-free software
John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> writes:
> Back to the first point. Perhaps I use lynx exclusively for
> e-commerce, and the only sites I use are running non-free servers.
> Thus, lynx is not useful without non-free software. On the other
> hand, you might disagree. "useful" varies from person to person.
This is very much analogous to software that uses Motif vs. software
that uses Lesstif. If Lesstif didn't exist, all software that
requires Motif would be in non-free or contrib. But since Lesstif
does exist, software that *can* use it goes in main, even if someone
decides to build a copy for themselves that uses true Motif.
The availability of *any* free option to make the software work makes
the software qualify for main. But if *all* the options involve the
use of non-free software, then it goes in contrib.
--
Chris Waters xtifr@dsp.net | I have a truly elegant proof of the
or xtifr@debian.org | above, but it is too long to fit into
http://www.dsp.net/xtifr | this .signature file.
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