Re: Software in main that is throughly useless without non-free software
Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@debian.org> writes:
> There is NOTHING on your system that is non-free which icq depends on to
> run, is there?
This is the point under contention. Does it matter whether a required
non-free component is on your system? If a package *requires* a
non-free server, should that package go in contrib? (My personal
feeling is yes, but I don't feel strongly about it.)
> Or is the fact that you're probably going to use the main
> icq server with it like everyone else good enough to make it only contrib
> worthy?
"Probably" doesn't matter. Can or can't matters.
> Does it matter that there are other projects out there (at least
> one with working (if you call an alpha "working") code) which could be
> used in place of the server?
It matters very much. *IF* a free server is available (and yes, alpha
is ok), then the client would not have to go into contrib under *any*
circumstances (i.e. no matter what we rule on the main point above).
As a vaguely related example, there was a patch going around, a few
years back, to link some GNU package with a non-free library. RMS
objected in the *strongest* terms. After much heated debate, someone
came out with a *barely*-functioning free replacement library. That
was enough to end the debate, despite the fact that nobody was
actually planning to use the free library. Quality of implementation
is not an issue, nor is popularity.
So, if what you say is true (there's a free alpha-quality ICQ server
around), then ICQ clients can go in main under any circumstances.
Might even be nice to package up the server (at least for
projects/experimental).
--
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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