Re: General Resolution: Removing non-free, Draft 2
Francesco Tapparo <ftapparo@ntt.it> writes:
> I think you're forgetting something: it is not common to download the debian
> packages. The vast majority of the people have only a modem connection, so
> upgrade debian with an apt to ftp.debian.org is out of discussion.
> The majority of the people simply buy the cd. The contents of the CD is
> different from the debian "official archive". It's very common to find
> non-free and non-us (here in Europe) packages. And not all the main packages
Do you have data to back up "vast majority"?
Anyway, you'll find that the non-free packages on CD do in fact come
originally from mirror sites (since that's where the .debs live) - the
cd-image making scripts need access to a mirror.
> The problem is not to force free software down the throat to our users, the
> problem is that debian is about free software. Debian with this change would
> become the free platform over which other can build (and with other I mean:
You miss the point - without the non-free sections of the archives,
your CD vendors wouldn't have anywhere to get their non-free .debs
from (unless they felt like building their own set).
Matthew
--
"At least you know where you are with Microsoft."
"True. I just wish I'd brought a paddle."
http://www.debian.org
Reply to: