On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 05:45:46PM +0100, Frank K?ster wrote: > No, it cannot go into Debian, and if its a binary I wouldn't even want > it in non-free (because we cannot give any security support). What you > could do would be to create a package that downloads the skype binary > and creates a deb from it, to allow the user to install it. > > If you look for "fahclient" in the archives of this list, you will find > something; or have a look at flashplugin-nonfree.
These have such type of installer packages because they are undistributable -- if you can actually redistribute skype freely across all Debian mirrors, I see no problem in creating a .deb for it. Indeed security support will be mostly impossible, so an appropriate warning would be a good idea. Either don't have it in non-free at all, or have it as a regular package IMHO, no need to have users jump through hoops just because. >From http://www.skype.com/help/faq/linux.html: | Can I redistribute Skype for Linux? | Yes, you can. For the fine print, read the EULA. In short, please | link back to Skype servers for the actual file download (automatic | downloading is OK), notify [EMAIL PROTECTED] about your | intentions, and make the Skype EULA terms clear to your users. Reading further, I found: http://www.skype.com/company/legal/promote/distributionterms.html This is too restrictive for non-free. If you want skype in non-free, you'd need to mail them and request permission for a non-revokable license to redistribute the way Debian does, including excemption from the 'must-update' demand for stable, as that's simply not going to happen. You'd also need to ask whether listing some info the long description and a few links is enough for their promotional demands. With a bit of luck, they know Debian (well, they do, as they seem to have tested it with Debian), and will give you the permissions you need. They also require official Debian statement of agreement to their terms, something that if they really insist on, should be obtained via the DPL (I really really doubt though that this will happen). So again a point they would need to give in on. In fact their whole redistribution document is going too far, so you really need an explicit statement of redistribution by Debian and everybody mirroring Debian, and they can only demand some texts in package description and documention that comes along with the package, not much else. Then include their statement in the copyright file. A simple google query shows that skype is quite popular, so there might be a reasonable public for it, there are at least three independently created unoffical debian packages already... --Jeroen -- Jeroen van Wolffelaar [EMAIL PROTECTED] (also for Jabber & MSN; ICQ: 33944357) http://Jeroen.A-Eskwadraat.nl -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
