Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.1.1.1
Severity: wishlist
Having read the recent thread on our several mailing lists,
I think that we should note more cleatly what is Debian distribution
and what is not a part of Debian distribution.
The current policy document itself clearly states that
"The _main_ section forms the _Debian GNU/Linux distribution_."
but unfortunately, many users do not notice this, and often
confuse and misunderstand that other sections in our archive
(i.e. "non-free" and "contrib") are also part of our distribution.
I don't think we should cut off these "extra-Debian" collection
of packages now really suddenly, but I wish to make things clear
a little.
I suppose that not so many users read our policy documents, but
perhaps users read the documents in the package itself when they
use it, so I think including the statement about what they use is
the good thing. This is not for the discrimination, but for the
identification of our distribution.
With this consideration, I propose the modification of our policy below.
=== before modification ===
2. The Debian Archive
---------------------
The Debian GNU/Linux system is maintained and distributed as a
collection of _packages_. Since there are so many of them (over 2600)
they are split into _sections_ and _priorities_ to simplify handling
of them.
The effort of the Debian project is to build a free operating system,
but not every package we want to make accessible is _free_ in our
sense (see Debian Free Software Guidelines, below), or may be
imported/exported without restrictions. Thus, the archive is split
into the sections _main_, _non-us_, _non-free_, and _contrib_.
The _main_ section forms the _Debian GNU/Linux distribution_.
Packages in the other sections are not considered as part of the
Debian distribution, though we support their use, and we provide
infrastructure for them (such as our bug-tracking system and mailing
lists). This Debian Policy Manual applies to these packages as well.
=== after modification ===
2. The Debian Archive
---------------------
The Debian GNU/Linux system is maintained and distributed as a
collection of _packages_. Since there are so many of them (over 2600)
they are split into _sections_ and _priorities_ to simplify handling
of them.
The effort of the Debian project is to build a free operating system,
but not every package we want to make accessible is _free_ in our
sense (see Debian Free Software Guidelines, below), or may be
imported/exported without restrictions. Thus, the archive is split
into the sections _main_, _non-us_, _non-free_, and _contrib_.
The _main_ section forms the _Debian GNU/Linux distribution_.
Packages in the other sections are not considered as part of the
Debian distribution, though we support their use, and we provide
infrastructure for them (such as our bug-tracking system and mailing
lists). This Debian Policy Manual applies to these packages as well.
In order to avoid to be misconstrued, All the packages in the other
sections than _main_ should have notice in
`/usr/share/doc/<package>/README.Debian' and should explain the
specific reason why the package does not form the _Debian GNU/Linux
distribution_.
=== the proposed patch on sgml for this modification ===
--- policy.sgml.orig Tue Jun 13 10:00:17 2000
+++ policy.sgml.proposed Tue Jun 13 10:05:22 2000
@@ -189,6 +189,12 @@
provide infrastructure for them (such as our bug-tracking
system and mailing lists). This Debian Policy Manual applies
to these packages as well.</p>
+ <p>
+ In order to avoid to be misconstrued, All the packages in
+ the other sections than <em>main</em> should have notice
+ in <tt>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/README.Debian</tt>
+ and should explain the specific reason why the package does
+ not form the <em>Debian GNU/Linux distribution</em>. </p>
<sect id="pkgcopyright">
<heading>Package copyright and sections</heading>
Thanks.
--
Taketoshi Sano: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
