On Mon, Aug 07, 2017 at 08:48:53PM -0700, Sean Whitton wrote:
> Hello,
>
> On Mon, Aug 07 2017, Dr. Bas Wijnen wrote:
>
> >> Example: [s3cmd]
> >
> > How is this not in contrib? This software is useless without the
> > non-free service (which is also software, and it is not in main) from
> > Amazon.
>
> Using the service doesn't involve running any non-free code *on your
> computer*. So it's free software.
All packages in contrib are free software, that's not the point.
The point is that package in contrib *require other software not in
main* for their use.
If a free software implementation of the remote service exists that a
package can work with, then it can remain in main. If not, it cannot.
In the case of s3cmd, if the maintainer can add "this package also works
with free implementations of the Amazon S3 API, including [foo bar
baz]" without lying about it, then the package can (and should) remain
in main. If not, it should be moved to the repository for "packages that
are free software, but require non-free software to do anything useful",
i.e., contrib.
> > To be clear: the sort of software (of this type) I expect in main is
> > like mumble: it connects to a server, and you can connect to a
> > commercially hosted server if you want to, but you can also run your
> > own server, because it's free software. If the mumble server would
> > not be free, and the only way to use the client was to connect to a
> > commercial server, mumble should not be in main.
>
> I see what you are getting at, but I don't think there is any kind of
> consensus in Debian or beyond that this is a requirement for software
> to be free. Perhaps you have a particular clause of the DFSG in mind?
I think there is.
--
Could you people please use IRC like normal people?!?
-- Amaya Rodrigo Sastre, trying to quiet down the buzz in the DebConf 2008
Hacklab
