Re: "keep non-free" proposal

[Gustavo Noronha Silva <kov@debian.org>]

Em Sun, 29 Feb 2004 09:48:42 -0500, Raul Miller <moth@debian.org> escreveu:

> > > What I want to know is: why don't you want us distributing such thing?
> 
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2004 at 06:52:47PM -0300, Gustavo Noronha Silva wrote:
> > Because I consider that Debian should not be promoting non-free software,
> > and having them on our ftp servers and, specially, mentioned in our install
> > process is a way of promoting them. 
> 
> In other words, the reason that you want us to only be distributing
> dfsg free software is that you want us to only be distributing dfsg
> free software?

That's not it. If you read my post again you'll see that I intended to say
that Debian should serve as an example. I consider Debian to be a major,
let's say, "protector" of the whole free software concept. Debian is one
of the powers we have to say "we want free software".

I think it's important to remove non-free, because that means we'll be
saying 'we do really believe in free software as a way to free our users'
I see that as our common-cause, as a project.

> > Our priorities are our users *and* free software, and I would like
> > that to be lived up.
> 
> And, apparently, you think free software should be a higher priority
> than our users?

Considering that free software is important to our users, and that the 
non-free software we have in the archive can be easily downloaded 
from elsewhere if the user really needs it (people are used to it, we 
have managed to make them learn what backports are ;)), then free 
software is a choice we make to help our users.

Remember, as someone else already stated, that an action like that
would mean that we as a project declare to the world that we are not
really going to eat the binary-only drivers, for example.

> I'm still not clear on why you think that's a good idea.  [I understand
> that you've dismissed some arguments which would indicate that that's
> a bad idea, but that's not really a reason.]

Indeed. But I see more good than bad in going for the removal.

Thanks,

-- 
kov@debian.org: Gustavo Noronha <http://people.debian.org/~kov>
Debian:  <http://www.debian.org>  *  <http://www.debian-br.org>
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