[arch-dev-public] Definition of non-free for repo-reorg

[Jason Chu]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2007 at 07:44:30PM +0200, Jürgen Hötzel wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2007 at 12:43:48PM -0400, Paul Mattal wrote:
> > Jürgen Hötzel wrote:
> > > Featuritis. Another pacman feature, that should not be part of a simple lightweight
> > > package manager.  
> > 
> > License issues do need to be handled somewhere. I think we've 
> > already chosen to handle them in pacman, by putting all that 
> > information into packages.
> > 
> 
> Having license meta-information in packages is fine. And it would also be
> fine to not only search for package description/name but also package
> license. This would allow users to search for all pdf packages distributed
> under GPL using "pacman -Ss"
> 
> But who needs a child proof for free software devotees, like in this
> scenario:
> 
> "I have to install a viewer for this proprietary PDF files. Lets try
> Adobes Acrobat Reader"
> 
> # pacman -S acroread do
> :: you agree to accept Adobes Non Free Software License [Y/N]
> 
> User: "WTF! Adobe did not release Adobes Acrobat Reader as GPL? Thank god
> pacman saved me from installing non-free software". 
> 
> Jürgen

Sadly, there are people out there who really do think like this.  They're
like RMS fan boys and will only install software that is GPL or BSD
licensed.

I think people are more afraid of pulling in non-free dependencies though.
Some people are really anal that way.

I think I agree with Paul though.  Let them have the feature, but let them
write it.

Jason
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