[Mageia-dev] Mageia repository sections, licenses, restrictions, firmware etc

[andré]

Romain d'Alverny a écrit :
> On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 06:50, Marc Paré<marc at marcpare.com>  wrote:
>    
>> Let the user then assume that responsibility/liability.
>> This is where, I consider the "easy urpmi" served its purpose well. It
>> installed repos where the available software that most users would need was
>> made available, but this again was by user choice.
>>      
> I don't really see how this would "fix" the issue; by using a
> third-party repository (plf or through easy urpmi) you just move the
> concerns to another provider:
>   - if the user is liable anyway, having a single or several providers
> doesn't matter;
>   - if the user is not liable anyway, having several providers only
> moves the liability from one provider to the other one.
>
> This particular point, about _patented_ software is a tricky one
> indeed. Dealing with local/international laws is tricky. Especially
> when both change over time.
>
> However, first point is not to mix different issues here:
>   - supported software and not-supported (and what means "supported")
>   - free vs. non-free/proprietary software (as in FSF/OSI definitions)
>   - gratis vs. paid software
>   - for non-free software, distribution/usage cases may be tricky
> (skype, opera for instance)
>   - software implementation/distribution that violates/have to comply
> specific laws (encryption, DRMs)
>   - for patented software/methods, implementation/distribution/usage
> cases are tricky as well (a patent may or may not block you from using
> the method, depends on who holds the patent and for what purpose).
>   - maybe more with more details; Anssi pretty much defined categories
> in his first message here.
>
> We definitely can't say bluntly "let's ignore all laws because we
> can't enforce them all". We must define our policies for what goes in
> Mageia repositories, what stays out, what goes out (and why). These
> policies must align with (and be part of) Mageia values and direction.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Romain
>    
A good summary of the issues involved

- André (andre999)