Re: Proposal: Source code is important for all works in Debian, and required for programmatic ones
> ========== BEGIN PROPOSAL =====================================
>
> The Free Software movement is about enabling users to modify the works
> that they use on their computer; about giving users the same
> information that copyright holders and upstream developers have. As
> such, a critical part of the Free Software movement is the
> availability of source (that is, the form of the work that a copyright
> holder or developer would use to actually modify the work) to users.
> This makes sure that users are not held hostage by the whims (or lack
> of interest or financial incentive) of upstreams and copyright
> holders.
>
> Different types of works have different forms of source. For some
> works, the preferred form for modification may not actually be
> digitally transferable.[1] For others, the form that originally was
> preferred may have been destroyed at some point in time, and is no
> longer available to anyone. However, to the greatest extent
> possible,[2] the availability of source code to users is a critical
> aspect of having the freedom to modify the software that is running
> upon ones computer.
>
> Recognizing this, the Debian Project:
>
> A. Reaffirms that programmatic works distributed in the Debian
> system (IE, in main) must be 100% Free Software, regardless of
> whether the work is designed to run on the CPU, a subsidiary
> processing unit, or by some other form of execution. That is,
> works must include the form that the copyright holder or upstream
> developer would actually use for modification.
>
> B. Strongly recommends that all non-programmatic works distribute
> the form that the copyright holder or upstream developer would
> actually use for modification. Such forms need not be distributed
> in the orig.tar.gz (unless required by license) but should be
> made available on upstream websites and/or using Debian project
> resources.
>
> C. Reaffirms its continued support of users whose hardware (or
> software) requires works which are not freely licensed or whose
> source is not available by making such works available in
> non-free and providing project resources to the extent that
> Debian is capable of doing so.
>
> D. Requests that vendors of hardware, even those whose firmware is
> not loaded by the operating system, provide the prefered form for
> modification so that purchasers of their hardware can
> exercise their freedom to modify the functioning of their
> hardware.
>
>
> 1: Consider film negatives, or magnetic tape in the case of audio
> recordings.
>
> 2: Here it must be emphasized that we refer to "technically possible"
> or "possible for some party" as opposed to "legally possible for
> Debian". We also assume digital distribution, and do not attempt to
> require the distribution of physical objects.
>
> ============= END PROPOSAL ===============================
seconded
--
<maxx@debian.org> ---- Debian GNU/Linux - The Universal Operating System
Well, i personally couldn't care less, since i don't use reiserfs, which
is known to eat data for breakfast, but i disabled reiserfs support only
because progreiserfs was kicked out of testing.
-- Sven Luther, debian-devel@lists.debian.org
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