Giovanni - the first thing i would wat to say is that no one wants to refer to that list as a "Software blacklist"
a blacklist implies that something is to be shunned, and permanently so - the main point of that list is not only to point out programs that have known problems, but more importantly to offer known recipes for how they can be liberated and used in freedom - so, i prefer to call it a "rescue" list; rather than giving it the "wall of shame" treatment that the original title suggests - chromium is an unfortunate example of one that has no known liberation procedure - no one wants it to remain that way regarding how mandatory it is, i think thats mostly up in the air for the moment - only the FSF could clarify that authoritatively what is clear though is that the current wording of the review process prevents any new distro from passing beyond the community review stage if it distributes chromium; so it is at least, effectively mandatory for new incoming distros - i think we would all want to see all FSDG rules applied equally to all FSDG distros, present and future - it is very unsettling, embarrassing even, if distros contradict each other regarding what is FSDG-free and what is not - i do think this is among the highest priorities for the group, especially now that this potential for conflict has been instantiated with an example as for the list itself, it is actually relatively short today compared to what it could be, and is not as well curated as it could be - it has been discussed how it could be refined and expanded to be a prime resource to anyone who wishes to customize one of those programs - if done well, there no reason why it should not be mandatory IMHO; but it would need to be well maintained, to ensure the warnings and prescriptions for each program remain relevant and useful the bottom line is that all this work is done by volunteers, including the review of new distros - in order to do a better job or to do more, more volunteers are needed to review software, discuss issues, and document the results
