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

Wed Oct 13 16:54:10 CEST 2010

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)
+