Re: [Proposal] Updating the Social Contract
On Sat, Jan 10, 2004 at 11:27:14AM -0600, Steve Langasek wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 10, 2004 at 10:26:23AM -0500, Raul Miller wrote:
> > This is based on my current understanding of the issues behind the
> > current discussion about non-free.
>
> > I propose we amend section 5 of the social contract so that it reads:
>
> > 5. Programs That Don't Meet Our Free-Software Standards
>
> > We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of programs
> > that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We
> > have created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our FTP archive for
> > software which satisfies our Free Redistribution guideline but not
> > all our other guidelines. The software in these directories is an
> > optional supplement to the Debian OS which is available from the
> > "main" are of our FTP archive. Thus, although non-free software
> > isn't the point of Debian, we support its use, and we provide
> > infrastructure (such as our bug-tracking system and mailing lists)
> > for non-free software packages.
>
> > If you think this is a bad idea, please explain what you see that need
> > to be solved, and suggest how to make it better.
>
> Although I don't see anything wrong with your wording, I don't see what
> this amendment would actually get us if it succeeded. The wording still
> leaves open the question of whether "we have created [sections on
> our ftp site]" means "we must keep these sections on our ftp site". The
> wording change also does not seem to address any of the reasons users
> currently perceive non-free as part of Debian.
This is exactly why we have to decide what we want to do, and then
modify the social contract accordyingly.
Friendly,
Sven Luther
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