Re: Was the release of Debian 2.0 put on Linux Announce?
On 03-Aug-1998, Robert Claeson <robert@claeson.com> wrote:
> Maybe I'm wrong or too phragmatic, but I just don't see much of a
> problem with using free and non-free code in the same system. If
> Informix was to create a Debian package of their database, would they
> be prohibited from doing so?
They are free (even encouraged) to do so. If they simply provide a
tar file, an installer .deb will certainly be accepted too.
It's your system, Debian has no control (or desire to control) what
you do with it, or what other people add to it. Informix would be
quite free to take Debian, add their database, and sell the whole
system.
It's just that the Debian system couldn't support the database, so it
cannot be part of the main Debian distribution. After all, Debian
doesn't have the source code around to fix any problems. This one
reason why Debian draws a distinction between free and non-free.
Debian insisting on free software for the main distribution is
pragmatic, not just idealistic. Debian provides a lot of support for
non-free programs, it just can't provide full support.
Tyson.
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