Johnny A. Solbu a écrit :
On Tuesday 30 October 2012 09:30, andre999 wrote:
The problem of including nonfree spftware in tainted, is that it
no longer is a Free software repo in countries that don't accept
software patents.
So how is that a problem ?
I am one of those that have core and tainted activated, but not
nonfree. I know that every available package urpm can find is Free
and open source software. If we start to include nonfree packages in
tainted, one can no longer activate tainted and be sure that every
package available for instalation is Free software.
Would it help if a user could set a configuration to automatically
control the installation of non-free packages. Something like
"never", "confirm each time", or "always", similar to what has been
proposed for isos ?
If it also works with urpm in the terminal, yes it's a help. I never
use the graphical package management tools to install anything,
unless I'm showing a user how to use the system. The only time I open
the graphical package manager, is to browse through the categories
just to see what's there. Sometimes i find cool games this way.
Myself I prefer graphic tools when they accomplish my goal more readily,
which is most of the time installing packages. Fewer problems with typos.
The «never» option should work with the terminal tools like urpmq and
urpmf. Meaning, if one choose to configure it to ignore nonfree
packages, it should also not show up in searches. Which is one of the
benefits of having separate repos.
My idea is to store such a configution option in the global section (at
the beginning) of /etc/urpmi/urpmi.cfg, so it would be available to both
console and graphic tools.
Don't forget that packages in the tainted repo have to be
downloaded from the net, unlike packages in core or nonfree, which
could be on an iso.
That depends. I never install from anything else but a network
install. Mainly because i have access to much more software in one
go. In the cases I install from a DVD iso it is on behalf of another
user, and I usually add a repo anyway. In the past when I installed
from a DVD on my own systems, I always added my local repo mirror.
(urpmi.addmedia --distrib blahblah)
I was thinking of internet installs -- which are often unreliable (at my
location), if installing/updating many packages. (It seems to depend on
the weather, even though I have a wired connexion to internet.)
So having an additional control, and using the "never" option would
eliminate any chance of installing a non-free package from
tainted.
As would a new repo. :-)=
Wouldn't that work for you ?
Yes, for me that would work, but this is not my point. :-)= I'm not
making noice because it's an inconvenience to Me, but because if we
do this we are thowing out our long standing tradition of separating
Free software from Nonfree software.
If I'm not mistaken, constrained packages tend to be presented elsewhere
in a single set of repos, free and non-free together.
I do agree that the category should be very clearly identified.
As it stands now, most non-free and many constrained(tainted) packages
have nothing in their name to indicate their category. So if a package
is not in the correct repo, there is no easy means to determine its'
category. If we require a tag the package name for all non-free, and
similarly for all tainted, we would loose this ambiguity.
Note that if urpmi is configured to keep downloaded packages after
install, all packages, whatever their category, whatever release, are
put in the same directory. Putting a tag in the name would remove the
resulting ambiguity.
Besides the extra overhead, the thought of another set of repos with a
configuration to maintain is not inviting.
It wouldn't be so bad if configuration were presented in a grid instead
of an endless list, at least for official repos.
If the presentation were simplified and a way found to minimise any
overhead, I'm not necessarily against an extra set of repos. But having
to scroll down a few pages to review the configuration, or select among
a dozen repos every time one updates, is a pain.
--
André
