Bug#210450: documentation essential.dvi.gz missing

[Stefan Ulrich <stefan-ulrich.nntp@zen.co.uk>]

C M Connelly <c@eskimo.com> writes:

> It looks like this material was dropped upstream.

Yup; see e.g.
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=131191

It just occurred to me: Wouldn't it be a good thing to, instead
of just removing such documentation, replace it with a `template'
document that explains that the documentation had to be removed,
and why? (If it's not against the Debian guidelines, such a
template could even contain a pointer or a hyperlink to the
actual non-free documentation e.g. on CTAN.)

Not only would this inform users and save them from submitting bug
reports like the present one; it could also help to raise
awareness of the problem among users, which might again influence
authors to make their documentation free in the first place.

Best,
Stefan