Re: non-free software
>
>
>
> On Mon, 30 Mar 1998, Bob Hilliard wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> OOPS - I did not mean to start a flame war. May I give
> a little more context to my original post?
>
> I will use the Debian packages when I can. If xv doesn't
> come with Debian, maybe I will use a substitue if it is
> as functional, or close.
Have a look at `display' from the imagemagic package. It has at least
the same amount of options as xv has, though not exactly the same ones.
> However there are packages
> like netpbm which, to my knowledge cannot be replaced.
> If this package was not available as a
> debian package, I would have to go with another distribution or
> hunt the net for the tarball and compile it.
> However, netpbm is available from debian.org, so I will
> download it. A pain since I have a bad connection.
I have always been surprised that xpaint more or less depends on this,
but still is in the main distribution, not in contrib. I also found
that some of the netpbm utilities are incapable of handling really big
files, so a replacement for these utils would indeed be nice.
> I hope you continue to support packages like xv and netpbm.
> I think there are too many good packages out there for
> the freeware community to ignore. If you support them
> please make them as easily accessible as possible.
I basicly agree with this, but I think the debian project should try and
find free replacements for these popular non-free packages. I believe
xv's functionality can be replaced by display, and maybe electric eye
that comes with gnome. Maybe it would be a good idea to make a list of
popular non-free apps, and their free replacements if there are any.
Eric Meijer
--
E.L. Meijer (tgakem@chem.tue.nl) | tel. office +31 40 2472189
Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032
Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054
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