On Tue, Sep 02, 2014 at 02:20:59PM -0400, Paul Tagliamonte wrote: > > We want to provide a binary distribution to our end users, and we want > > to have best possible experience, right? > > We want to provide a libre / *free* distribution to our end users. > Anything else is just tolerated / hosted. non-free is *not* Debian (the > distribution), it's simply hosted on Debian project infra.
While I hate non-free as much as you do, it's sadly needed for way too many reasons to dismiss it. For example, every single non-headless computer I own requires non-free for graphical display: nvidia (nouveau crashes hourly on my card), mali (with a non-packaged blob), etc. Non-free network card firmware[1]. CPU microcode updates. Compiler documentation, from FSF itself[2]! Even main contains some thoroughly non-free stuff like AGPL (nasty use restrictions). Seriously, the world we live in sucks. We should do all we can to replace non-free bits, but for now, refusing for a package in contrib to autobuild is counterproductive. [1]. Technically, the card in question does work with firmware in ROM. Yet I see no reason non-free code in ROM would be better than bug-fixed non-free code loaded from disk that updates it. [2]. And it's not an issue of just immutable sections. GFDL without those is accepted in main for political reasons, despite forbidding such use as chmod o-r or locking the door to your server room with technological means known as a "key". -- // If you believe in so-called "intellectual property", please immediately // cease using counterfeit alphabets. Instead, contact the nearest temple // of Amon, whose priests will provide you with scribal services for all // your writing needs, for Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory prices. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: https://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
