[Mageia-dev] rehashing the faac issue

Thu Nov 1 14:52:12 CET 2012

andre999 a écrit :
+> Johnny A. Solbu a écrit :
+>> On Tuesday 30 October 2012 09:37, Malo wrote:
+>>> - there is only faac, so why bother? (fuelling the first reason)
+>>
+>> There is also another side to this, that we either haven't talked
+>> about or doesn't know about. We are a Free software community, that
+>> includes some nonfree software. (And therefore doesn't qualify as a
+>> Free Software community according to some, but that's another
+>> debate.) A part of beeing a Free software community is that we have a
+>> preference as to what kind of software we are willing to work with.
+>> That also means that there are software we are not willing to work
+>> with.
+>>
+>> We could decide that «patented nonfree software» doesn't belong in
+>> our distribution.
+>>
+> That has been our temporary decision, to the best of my knowledge always
+> to be reviewed later.
+> But as we can see, many users want certain packages in this category, so
+> the topic keeps getting raised.
+> For myself, with a very strong preference for open source, I'm very
+> willing to accommodate those with a preference for certain non-free
+> software.
+> As well, there will always be proprietory software, particularly for
+> niche situations, which is not necessarily bad.
+> After all good ideas in proprietory software, which focuses on solving
+> real-world needs, can inspire a lot of good free software.
+> 
+
+
+The choice is between 3 options :
+
+A) Let Faac off   ;)
+and stay without allowing to work on some multimedia files until an
+opensource sofware really works (that's the way it goes since Mageia exists)
+hoping that a third party repo provides what Mageia users need when they
+are not strict opensource users (nevermind to know if they are a
+majority or a minority).
+Ordinary users must know that the third repo exists and how to use it
+(not for beginners :( )
+
+
+
+B) the most simple for admins and QA
+if we allow the presence of non strictly free software in tainted
+(needing to modify the Mageia policy => that's a Mageia Board decision !
+not only a packager vote. )
+
+ if the strict opensource users can discriminate strictly opensource and
+non strictly opensource packages
+
+1)
+in the tainted repo :
+we may have faac (explicitely informing that it's build upon a non free
+piece of code)
+we may provide handbrake and cinelerra that absolutely need faac
+(explicitely informing that they have the same problem as faac because
+they are built upon it)
+
+2)
+If we can have two versions with different names in the same repo
+
+we can provide vlc-tainted (as it is now, allowing to "update" from the
+core repo's same version ) and beside it  vlc-tainted-faaced or
+vlc-twisted or whatever working suffix (informing that it is not
+strictly opensource, and allowing to update from the core and from the
+tainted version)
+same for avidemux gstreamer audiokonverter arista and so on
+It is simple for ordinary users or beginners: the faac versioned is
+automatically chosen
+Strict opensource users know what to do if they want purity !
+
+
+C) More heavy for admin and QA : create a non-free-tainted repo (and
+update backport subrepos)
+Always need to add a special suffix for vlc, avidemux... built with faac
+option in this repo, to "update" them from core and tainted version :
+- strict opensource users may not allow this repo... and it is simple
+for them
+- need to inform ordinary users to allow these repos and why (a little
+complex for beginners)
+
+
+Philippe
+
+