Re: Negative Summary of the Split Proposal

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

    > It would be like asking children, "Should we offer you some candy
    > before your meal?"

    This, I'm afraid, I don't agree with.  What is so appealing about
    non-free software?

To most users, any additional software packages are appealing.  The
free packages are appealing, and the non-free packages are appealing
too.  So my analogy with candy was not exactly right; the right
analogy would be, "Would you like some MORE of this candy?"

If the GNU Project offers the public a version of Debian set up in
this way, most users would choose to look through the non-free
packages--so, in effect, we would be recommending them to the users.
That would put us in a conflict with our principles.

Of course, your principles may be different.  But I am not asking you
to stop following your principles, only asking for the GNU Project to
have a way to follow its principles.

    The problem is that we, Debian, *have* to ask that question, somehow,
    somewhere.

No, that is not exactly true.  What is true is that many of the people
in Debian want to offer a system which does provide non-free packages,
and will probably insist Debian give them a way to do that.

You've restated the situation in a way that simplifies it, but that
simplification obscures some of the alternatives--including, perhaps,
the best available compromise.

      We provide a great free
    OS that can run non-free software.  We *have* to advertise that fact
    in order to draw people in and get them to see the advantages of free
    OSes.

I disagree with that position, and also the claimed symmetry between
the FSF and Debian.  But there's no need to argue about this; it isn't
relevant to the question at hand.  No one is proposing that Debian
stop talking about non-free packages, or stop distributing non-free
packages.  That's not what the issue is.

The proposal being voted on is to *separate* the distribution of the
non-free and free packages.  This way, people who want to refer to
both can refer to both--and the GNU Project, which wants to refer to
only the free packages, can refer to only the free packages.

Right now, when people ask the GNU Project "Where should I get a
GNU/Linux system to install", there is simply no place we can send
them in accord with our principles.  So right now, we don't send them
anywhere in particular.

I would like us to be able to send them to the Official Debian system,
on an official Debian site, and feel 100% good about it.