Re: Packaging a free Firefox

[Katherine Cox-Buday <cox.katherine.e@gmail.com>]

Pjotr Prins <pjotr.public12@thebird.nl> writes:

>> Not packaging FF or crippling FF is a no-go! Doing so will discourage
>> users from using GuixSD and Free Software.

As an anecdote with a data-point of one, I uninstalled GuixSD because I
suddenly needed the machine I was running it on to be my daily driver. I
had been attempting to package Firefox whenever I had a spare moment,
but I ran out of time and needed it to work as I didn't have time to
migrate all the machines I use to a libre-friendly browser (nor am I
sure I want to).

> That is an interesting one. GNU Guix, by virtue of it being a GNU
> project needs to abide by GNU free software terms. But even among core
> project members there are variations in thought in how to compromise
> with user requirements. A package manager that does not target user
> needs is a shitty package manager. This is one reason I champion the
> concept of channels:
>
> guix channel firefox http://some-origin/guix-channels/firefox
> guix package -i firefox
>
> so we can make GNU Guix as pure as possible and leverage less pure
> concepts (such as Firefox and Conda) into something that is not
> considered part of the core project. I think it would also render
> other maintenance benefits, for example versioning of old software
> would become much easier.
>
> guix channel ruby-1.8 http://some-origin/guix-channels/ruby-1.8
> guix package -i ruby
>
> I hope we get something like this at some point.

So do I. I completely agree with the points made elsewhere in this
thread about joining idealism with pragmatism, and I think channels are
a good way to allow people who want/need to run less-than-libre software
to remain with and support Guix, without forcing the project to adopt
software contrary to its goals.

-- 
Katherine