Re: Gentoo GNU/Linux and non-free packages

[Marek Aaron Sapota <maarons@gnu.org>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1466 bytes --]

On Thu, Jan 07, 2010 at 05:49:13PM -0500, Richard Stallman wrote:
>     Well, that hardly qualifies as an still standing argument.  As soon as
>     the new package manager version is stable, it's only a matter of what
>     defaults the Gentoo devs choose as acceptable licenses.  I guess, they
>     will choose only FSF and OSI approved licenses.
> 
> Are you saying that the Gentoo developers might soon delete all the
> ports for non-free programs from Gentoo?  That could make it a 100%
> free distro, and we might be able to endorse it.  (We would have to
> check for blobs in their version of Linux.)

Gentoo devs have already chosen - by default it is everything that
doesn't require explicit agreement from user and this aren't only FSF
and OSI approved licenses. As reference:

http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=152593

It is possible to use only Free Software with Gentoo but it isn't that
easy:
- packages have non-free dependences, sometimes programs compile fine
  without them, but they are pulled in anyway
- some free "alternatives" are only in additional repositories
- predefined license groups (for example FSF approved) are not complete
- some packages have wrong licenses (usually license is named after the
  package even if it really is for example GPL)

Gentoo isn't even close to being a Free Distribution in FSF sense, I
have no idea why some people treat it as such.

Happy hacking
Marek Aaron Sapota

[-- Attachment #2: Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 189 bytes --]