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

Wed Oct 13 17:02:23 CEST 2010

Le 2010-10-13 10:49, andré a écrit :
+> Tux99 a écrit :
+>> On Wed, 13 Oct 2010, [UTF-8] Marc ParÃ© wrote:
+>>
+>>> Le 2010-10-12 22:04, Tux99 a Ã©crit :
+>>>> 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
+
+