On Mon, Jul 02, 2007 at 10:43:05PM -0300, Rogério Brito wrote: > Can anybody explain how packages go into non-free? I mean: how much free > the package has to be to be considered to non-free and which issues are > blocker that would forbid the package into entering non-free?
A package can go into main if it complies with the DFSG[1]. If it doesn't, but the copyright holder allows redistribution, it can go into non-free. Thus, Netscape used to be there, before it was freed. But Sun's jvm wasn't, because Sun insisted you had to download it from their site. Apart from that, in certain cases, of which multimedia programs are a big part, the fact that the package infringes software patents whose holder is known to actively prosecute infringement is enough to completely forbid the package from being in Debian's archive at all, either in main, contrib or non-free. That's because carrying the package would be a liability for the project or for the mirror operators. [1] That's the short version. Read Policy 2.1, 2.2 for the full story.
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