The DFSG is a statement of intent (so are the "Four Freedoms" of the
Free Software Foundation).
Each piece of software (and there are many) has a license.
Whether the license agrees with the DFSG is, actually, a judgement call.
Generally, I'm happy to go with the judgement of the people who put
Debian together, and with the judgement of the Free Software Foundation
(it's worth noting that the two don't /always/ agree, on some subtle
points). All in all, it's a judgement call best made by people with
legal training: there's no need to read each individual license before
using the software. If the program is in Debian, several people have
read its license and agreed that it meets the DFSG. And those are people
who (a) know what they're talking about, and (b) are usually very very
strict about the application and intent of the DFSG.
However, if you want to do more than /use/ a program: if you want to
/modify/ a program, or write a new one based on it, or write a program
which uses another program, then it probably is worth your while to
actually read the licence, especially if you then want to distribute
your modified program. Any program which meets the DFSG will /allow/ you
to modify it as above, but the /precise conditions/ under which
distribution is permitted will vary from one license to another.
Timothy.
P.S. That article about Christianity and Free Software was interesting.
Thanks, Gervase.
