Re: Auditing free and non-free packages

[amacater@galactic.demon.co.uk (Andrew M.A. Cater)]

On Sun, Apr 08, 2007 at 07:44:13PM +0100, andy wrote:
> Hello
> 
> I have, since installing Etch, been downloading packages with regard for 
> functionality and because I wanted that program, rather than focusing on 
> whether or not that package was non-free or free (with respect to the 
> Debian commitment to free software).
> 
> I am curious about the packages I currently have installed that aren't 
> free (I know about the w32codecs and the flashplayer-plugin, for 
> example). Is there a way of auditing this?
> 

You could try vrms - the Virtual RMS - a script which will warn you of 
packages considered non-free in DFSG terms (and will email you once a 
month or so by default). Obviously, apt-get/aptitude install vrms will 
install the package for you.

Alternatively, try the following: 

Comment out the entries in your /etc/apt/sources.list
for non-free and debian-multimedia or whatever, then do an apt-get 
update. The packages which aren't found will be tagged as 
Local/Obsolete since the source is unknown and you can recognise them 
that way. Once you're happy, re-edit your /etc/apt/sources.list 
appropriately to re-add the entries you commented out.

HTH,

Andy
> Thanks
>