On 8 Jun 2000, Chuan-kai Lin wrote: > There is a General Resolution proposed by developer John Goerzen that > is under discussion on both debian-devel and debian-project, maybe also > a few others that I am not aware of. The nature of the GR is to amend > the Social Contract so that Debian will stop distributing non-free > packages. If the GR is passed, then Debian will no longer provide the > storage, bandwidth, and bug tracking facilities for non-free packages, > including acroread, blender, netscape, jdk, povray, trn, and xanim.
This may be a good time to transition support for the non-free packages to an organization outside Debian. I imagine that a number of companies would jump at the chance to host the bug tracking system for Debian non-free. Think about this: With the distribution of tools such as Borland's Kylix, there may soon be a flood of non-free Linux applications. Many of these may use a shareware or demo-ware distribution strategy to maximize exposure. Also, with Debian and Debian-derived distributions becoming more popular, there should be Debianized versions of most commercial offerings. Given the fact that Mozilla will be available in main, this might be the right time for this step. I use non-free packages such as Acroread. I also use non-free software in non-Debian formats such as Mupad, Maple, and Staroffice. I have no objections whatever the outcome of this proposal. Thanks. Syrus. -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Syrus C Nemat-Nasser, PhD | Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials UCSD Department of Physics | UCSD Department of Mechanical <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | and Aerospace Engineering
