The debian-private mailing list leak, part 1. Volunteers have complained about Blackmail. Lynchings. Character assassination. Defamation. Cyberbullying. Volunteers who gave many years of their lives are picked out at random for cruel social experiments. The former DPL's girlfriend Molly de Blanc is given volunteers to experiment on for her crazy talks. These volunteers never consented to be used like lab rats. We don't either. debian-private can no longer be a safe space for the cabal. Let these monsters have nowhere to hide. Volunteers are not disposable. We stand with the victims.
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: contrib/non-free policy

>>>>> "BP" == Bruce Perens <bruce@pixar.com> writes:

    BP: Part of the problem is that I would like to use Debian to help
    BP: influence people to make their software free. If they make it
    BP: able to be placed in contrib, and we always distribute
    BP: contrib, what inducement do they have to make it free?

Bruce,

I've ever thought the main purpose of Debian is to provide as good as
possible environment for Linux users.  Yes, we want to support free
software, but I think it shouldn't be the *primary and only* target.
I really don't know, why almost free programs couldn't be on Debian
CDs.

Example: SWI Prolog license is very similar to GPL.  For most users
differences doesn't matter, but SWI Prolog probably can't be in the
main distribution.  However it is freely modifiable in the GPL sense
so it can be fully supported and distributed without restrictions.
What's wrong with SWI Prolog on Debian CDs, especially when this is
the most free and very popular real Prolog interpreter?  Why should
Debian users search it somewhere on ftp?

One can make a distribution based on Debian including partially free
packages on CDs.  But I don't know about any such an attempt.  When
such distributions are available, we can possibly be more restrictive.
But today Debian is the only service of its kind and we shouldn't
destroy it through artificial constraints.  It could lower its user
base significantly.  Because Debian is fully dependent on its user
base (no users => no developers), we must offer as much as *possible*
to public community and not to make their life harder only because
(whatever important) political statements.

Milan Zamazal

-- 
"Having GNU Emacs is like having a dragon's cave of treasures."
                                                Robert J. Chassell


--
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to
debian-private-request@lists.debian.org . 
Trouble?  e-mail to templin@bucknell.edu .