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

[Marc Paré]

Le 2010-10-13 10:49, andré a écrit :
> Tux99 a écrit :
>> On Wed, 13 Oct 2010, [UTF-8] Marc Paré wrote:
>>
>>> Le 2010-10-12 22:04, Tux99 a écrit :
>>>> According to your logic that would mean we can't include ssh,
>>>> openssl, pgp,
>>>> and even https support in any browser.
>>>> Does that seems reasonable to you?
>>>>
>>>> You need to face it, it would be impossible to make a distro that is
>>>> legal
>>>> in every country of the world and at the same time is of any use to the
>>>> users.
>>>> Therefore I don't see the need why we should comply with US patent laws
>>>> when we don't comply with for example Chinese encryption laws.
>>>>
>>> All of your points are exactly what I am trying to point out and even
>>> reinforce my concerns. These are all true. This is why, in my opinion,
>>> the Mageia distro should not be installing all of these controversial
>>> software packages by default.
>> Are you seriously suggesting Mageia should produce a distro without ssh,
>> openssl and even with all browsers stripped of https support?
>>
>> I can imagine how popular that would be with the majority of users...
>>
>>> This would then remove that layer of liability from the Mageia
>>> project group. In my opinion, Mageia should be wary in wanting to
>>> install a fully functioning distro if this means using software packages
>>> that may get it into trouble (Mageia itself).
>> But here lies the mistake in your reasoning. Mageia doesn't have to
>> exclude all those packages, since the only liability Mageia has, is
>> towards the French laws.
>>
>> So the sensible choice is to base the choice of packages to include on
>> French law. It is up to the user to make sure he/she only installs and
>> uses packages that are legal in his/her country.
>
> Excuse me if I'm wrong -- but you seem to be arguing at cross purposes.
> Marc says don't install codecs by default, and Tux99 (and many others)
> say codecs must be included in the distro so the user can choose to
> install them.
> Simple solution - include them in the distro, but not installed by default.
> Where is the problem ?
>
> To make things easier, maybe we should put seriously threatened software
> in the non-free section ? (I mean software which is *known* to have
> problems, not those just *rumoured* to have.)
> In any case, I would certainly avoid excluding useful codecs from the
> distribution ISOs.
>
> By the way, it is not only what is permitted in France, but also what is
> permitted in the countries where the mirrors are hosted. Here in Canada,
> there is (no longer) a mirror for Mandriva, so the nearest Mandriva
> mirrors are in the U.S.
>
> A few years back, the U.S. restricted severely encryption, unlike in
> Canada and most of the rest of the world. So to have normal encryption
> with Mozilla software, we in Canada had to download Mozilla from Europe,
> since there were at that time no mirrors for Mozilla in Canada. Luckily
> the U.S. no longer has such restrictions.
> Having to download an entire distro from Europe would be much more
> problematic.
> So it is useful to consider the laws in likely mirror locations.
> For North America, Canada is always a good choice :)
>
> my 2 cents:)
>
> - André (andre999)
>

Yes, all of this would be a fine middle ground in my opinion.

Re: Canadian repos -- U. of Sherbrook (Québec, Canada) dropped the 
Mandriva mirrors for unknown reason (I suspect that the person who had a 
personal interest in maintaining these just moved on). I was however 
pleasantly surprised to see that U. of Waterloo offering the Mandriva 
KDE 4.5.0 updates on their servers. We may be able to convince them to 
mirror the Mageia project on their servers. I may be able to help as I 
live in Wateloo (no contacts at the U. of Waterloo though), more at the 
other university Wilfrid Laurier.

Marc