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Re: Auditing free and non-free packages



Andrew J. Barr wrote:
Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
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?


I would also point out that the Debian definition of free software isn't necessarily authoritative. You are welcome to disagree and use a package without any moral qualms (if you believe that using free software is moral). For example, I do not agree with the exclusion of things like fonts, firmware, and some other program data from main -- but the beauty of Debian is that these things are still available to us even though the project feels they aren't free. For example, the non-free Broadcom wireless firmware was a few clicks away for me by simply installing the bcm43xx-fwcutter package from contrib. Voila--instant wireless on my PowerBook. Not 30 seconds after installing that package, my home wireless network showed up in the NetworkManager icon. You don't even have to search Google for the Windows driver. Now if they could only figure out some way to do something similar for the Intel Centrino radios...

Andrew


Andrew & Andrew

I will try vrms - sounds like that should be quite interesting actually. Cheers :)

I have really come to appreciate the design philosophy of Debian over the last months and having installed it on a couple of machines now (odd quirks were sorted thanks to the help of this list's members!). I actually do find myself coming out on Stallman's side of those flamewar debates about free and open source software, and also enjoy having access to software that may not be free, but still provides a function for me that I have come to want and expect. That the Debian developers and team facilitate users doing this is a very mature attitude!

I relish the daily package updates and how all of these packages just slot right in and work right out of the box. Kudos to those guys who ruined their eyesight and their social lives developing the body of code that I now get to enjoy in all of its finesse!

Cheers

Andy

--

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"



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