On 9/21/06, Steve Langasek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
In order to claim this as a reason for not excluding the package from main, yes, absolutely. That doesn't mean the converse is true, though, so we still need to refine further to decide which side of the line ndiswrapper belongs on -- so far we only have two tests which don't apply to ndiswrapper. :)
I understand that some people don't want ndiswrapper in Contrib, because it is free software and it might be used to develop other free software. However, every piece of software in Contrib is free software, and can be used to develop other free software. Put differently, a way of looking at the problem is: "Are there any good abstract rules which describe what should be in Contrib that (a) exclude ndiswrapper from Contrib, and (b) do not exclude all software from Contrib?" By "good rule", I mean at least as good as "Free software belongs in Contrib when all users of the software require other, non-free software to make non-trivial use of it." [The biggest flaw, for this rule, is that "use" means something different for different kinds of software. A hardware emulator, for example, sees different kinds of uses than a software api emulator.] On the other hand, we also have debian's policy for Contrib, which ndiswrapper does fit. Maybe "policy indicates it should be in Contrib, and we do not have a compelling reason for it to be in Main" is sufficient basis for deciding? ["It's in Main right now" might be compelling for the case of Etch -- depending on how frozen Etch is -- but I don't think that's a compelling reason outside the context of a release freeze.] -- Raul -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
