"C. Cooke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> So. What about, instead of using something in the README.Debian,
> create a standard README.non-free, and include it in non-free
> packages. This makes more sense, and can include a standard "why
> non-free is generally bad" plus specific reasons.
I don't want to sound stubborn, but I don't see the point in creating
a new file at all. I'm trying to avoid the situation where policy
dictates the creation of a bunch of little files in /usr/doc/. In
the beginning of the project, the copyright file was the *only* file
required by policy (not even a changelog was required). I would like
to keep all of the package meta-documentation together in one place.
Ultimately, it is less confusing to find something in one file than to
search through a bunch of smaller files.
Consider this. Often the README.* file that has been proposed will
contain nothing more than the following:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This package cannot be included in the official Debian distribution
because its license allows redistribution only when "no commercial
profit is involved." It is therefore distributed from the non-free
section of the Debian ftp site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do we really need to place this little bit in its own file?
Furthermore, I don't feel that adding a standardized lecture on the
vices of non-free licenses will accomplish anything other than wasting
disk space.
For what its worth, the copyright file of some non-free packages already
have a little comment on the non-freeness of the license. I found the
following little blurb from the copyright file in Joey's xsnow package
particularly amusing:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From a later mail I (Joey, Martin Schulze) have received it is
clear to me that we are not allowed to modify xsnow in any way.
This suxx and I feel a great desire to drop the whole package,
completely.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Brian
