[Mageia-dev] Free software needing non-free data

Sat Aug 4 22:51:05 CEST 2012

Hi,
+
+I've reread our policy, but it's unclear to me where to put free software that 
+can't work (in a useful way for a user) without non-free data.
+
+We currently have a mix of situations (sometimes in core, sometimes in 
+nonfree), which shows that it's not totally clear to other packagers either.
+
+I see 2 different situations:
+
+--- redistributable data ---
+Data is put in nonfree media, so the binaries are put in nonfree too because 
+we can't put a requires from core to nonfree
+
+Example : warsow and warsow-data
+
+--- non redistributable data ---
+Here two different policies seem to be applied, depending on the packager:
+1°) put the binaries in core, since they are free
+2°) put the binaries in non-free, since they are useless without non-free data 
+(extrapolation of the "self-contained" rule of core)
+
+And there are grayzone cases, such as:
+- prboom (free) which is meant to work with Doom's wads (nonfree) but can also 
+work with freedoom (free), so it's in core even if we apply 2°
+- ioquake3, which is an engine that can be used by other free games (although 
+I think they often ship their own modified version), so it's in core even if we 
+apply 2°
+
+
+So, can we reach a consensus about something we could write in the policy so 
+that there's no more confusion, and move the relevant packages from nonfree to 
+core or core to nonfree?
+
+Best regards
+
+Samuel Verschelde
+