Re: What it means to be Debian
>>>>> "Zlatan" == Zlatan Todoric <zlatan@riseup.net> writes:
Zlatan> On the other hand - I do believe that Debian contributors
Zlatan> should uphold Social Contract and DFSG as much as possible
Zlatan> because if we don't push it forward and believe in it, then
Zlatan> no one else will.
I agree with the above.
However no where in the social contract do we commit to using only free
tools for our work. I can use Outlook to read my Debian mail. I can
use IE to interact with db.debian.org if I like.
I can send mail to the BTS from Apple mail.app or from the gmail
website.
I choose to do none of those things, but will vigorously defend others'
right to do so.
we also don't clearly indicate that we believe Debian should use free
tools and services for project infrastructure. You can argue that is
implied by "the system require the use of a non-free component," but I
don't think that's very clear.
I do think it's important that it be possible to buildand work on Debian
using entirely free tools, and I think it is important that the Debian
Project use free tools for its infrastructure and prefer/require
services that are free software. I think we tend to do that. I think
several of our key teams do that as policy. I don't think we've made a
level of commitment like the social contract to do that.
In general I would support making such a commitment to the community,
but it would require careful wording and it would require looking at
whether we need any exceptions where there are real gaps.
As an example, I ssuspect a lot of the services where we have hardware
hosted use proprietary service management software. I suspect the
registrars and registries where we register our DNS domains use
proprietary services.
Reply to: