Re: Moving contrib and non-free of master.debian.org
On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Shane King wrote:
>
> "4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software"
>
> This does not say "Our Priorities are pragmatic and technical". Instead it
> places freeness ahead of any technical superiority. Unless I'm mistaken,
> all developers are required to "agree with and pledge to uphold the Debian
> Social Contract", which makes me wonder how this non-free software got on
> the debian servers and has remained there for so long? Some people
> obviously haven't taken their pledge seriously...
That last part is a bit flip for me, because I _do_ take pledges
seriously, and this is, indeed, one of those pledges.
However, to speak to your point:
The statement you quote refers to itself as a list of priorities. It
places "Our Users" _before_ "Free Software" by intent. Later, often
quoted, sections of the Social Contract, also commit us to supplying "Our
User"'s desire/need for software that does not meet the DFSG. This
software can still be distributed without fee or retribution. Such
software either goes in Contrib, or Non-free, for reasons that are made
clear every time this issue comes up, so it's hard to believe that they
are "misunderstood" by anyone who has been paying attention.
This problem continues to arrise because there _seems_ to be a
contradiction between being avid Free Software enthusiasts, and the
inherent "evils" of "non-free" software.
Personally, I think freedom to use non-free software on a "free" system is
as important as the right to use "free" software on that system. We _are_
about software freedom, and I see those freedoms as being enhanced by
our support of "non-free" software, not reduced.
Waiting is,
Dwarf
--
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