Dne, 27. 04. 2011 10:47:43 je sdc napisal(a):
Greetings, I was reading FSF distro review and I was shocked to see
that
Debian isn't actually free software. FSF said that they are making a
big
progress(this happened when they removed the blobs from the kernel)
but
still isn't free software because users have the option to install
proprietary software from debian's server and this is a bit confusing
for
beginners in this free software world.
My beginner question is, why doesn't Debian remove the proprietary
software
hosted on it's servers? Don't they want to follow the FSF word?
Thanks!
Debian is a fairly complex infrastructure. There is a free as in
freedom subset provided in the form of Debian's "main" software
repository -- we could call it the "hard core" of Debian. This is the
only software repository that is included in a default Debian
installation; you must explicitly and intentionally enable other
repositories to get "non-free" software. But even the so-called
"non-free"software must still comply with the Debian Free Software
Guidelines in order to be provided by Debian; and even so, it's not
part of Debian strictly speaking, it's just provided as an additional
service to Debian users at large.
Seems a quite reasonable policy to me. Of course, we all wish we could
run free software ponly on our machines, but the time doesn't seem ripe
for that. Most machines have proprietary BIOSes, as do many add-in
cards, even hard disks have a non-free firmware down deep inside. So
it's pretty hard to draw a line, even on a personal, user level. What
about our cars? They all have quite powerful computers built in now to
make them work at all -- running strictly proprietary software, of
course. Our fridges and washing mashines -- ditto. Our cell phones, mp3
players, cameras, media centers, TV sets -- ditto.
That said, one has the option to pick a "more free" distribution if
they deem strict Debian (i.e. Debian as such, without the contrib and
non-free repositories) is not free enough.
--
Cheerio,
Klistvud
http://bufferoverflow.tiddlyspot.com
Certifiable Loonix User #481801 Please reply to the list, not to
me.
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1303898996.4069.0@compax