Re: Changing how we handle non-free firmware
Hi Simon!
On Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 09:06:38AM +0200, Simon Josefsson wrote:
>
>==================
>
>We continue to stand by the spirit of the Debian Social Contract §1
>which says:
>
> Debian will remain 100% free
>
> We provide the guidelines that we use to determine if a work is
> "free" in the document entitled "The Debian Free Software
> Guidelines". We promise that the Debian system and all its components
> will be free according to these guidelines. We will support people
> who create or use both free and non-free works on Debian. We will
> never make the system require the use of a non-free component.
>
>Therefore we will not include any non-free software in Debian, nor in the
>main archive or installer/live/cloud or other official images, and will
>not enable anything from non-free or contrib by default.
>
>We also continue to stand by the spirit of the Debian Social Contract §5
>which says:
>
> Works that do not meet our free software standards
>
> We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of works that
> do not conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have
> created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our archive for these
> works. The packages in these areas are not part of the Debian system,
> although they have been configured for use with Debian. We encourage
> CD manufacturers to read the licenses of the packages in these areas
> and determine if they can distribute the packages on their CDs. Thus,
> although non-free works are not a part of Debian, we support their
> use and provide infrastructure for non-free packages (such as our bug
> tracking system and mailing lists).
>
>Thereby re-inforcing the interpretation that any installer or image with
>non-free software on it is not part of the Debian system, but that we
>support their use and welcome others to distribute such work.
>
>==================
This last bit of wording is slightly unclear to me. Should *Debian* be
allowed to distribute an installer or image with non-free software on
it?
--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com
< liw> everything I know about UK hotels I learned from "Fawlty Towers"
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