-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- This is an updated draft of the proposal I posted this morning.
I've fixed several errors in part five. Let's hold off on seconding this proposal until the 16th. There's a non-zero chance that it will need to be changed again. The rationale for this proposal is: clean up the social contract and bring its words in line with the way we have been interpreting it. - -- I propose the following resolution: We will replace our social contract with two documents, as specified by the recent constitutional amendment. The first replacement document will be the social contract below, and the second replacement document will be the Debian Free Software Guidelines extracted from the remainder of the original social contract. Here's the replacement for the social contract: Debian's Social Contract The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This is the "social contract" we offer to the free software community. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Social Contract" with the Free Software Community 1. Debian will remain 100% free software` Debian exists to distribute a general purpose system composed of entirely free software. As there are many definitions of free software, we use the "Debian Free Software Guidelines" to determine if software is free. We will also support our users who develop and run other software on Debian -- free or non-free -- but we will never make the system depend on an item of non-free software. 2. We will give back to the free software community When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license them in a manner consistent with the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We will make the best system we can, so that free works will be widely distributed and used. We will communicate things such as bug fixes, improvements and user requests to the "upstream" authors of works included in our system. 3. We will not hide problems We will keep our entire bug report database open for public view at all times. Reports that people file online will promptly become visible to others. 4. Our priorities are our users and free software We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free software community. We will place their interests first in our priorities. We will support the needs of our users for operation in many different kinds of computing environments. We will not object to non-free works that are intended to be used on Debian systems, or attempt to charge a fee to people who create or use such works. We will allow others to create distributions containing both the Debian system and other works, without any fee from us. In furtherance of these goals, we will provide an integrated system of high-quality materials with no legal restrictions that would prevent such uses of the system. 5. Programs that doesn't meet our free-software standards We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of software that doesn't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We support interoperability standards such as "Linux Standard Base", and will accept bug reports where our system violates those standards. To make our system more attractive to people with mild dependencies on non-free software, we have created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our internet archive. The software in these directories is not needed by most people, and we do not guarantee all software in the non-free area may be distributed in other ways. Thus, although we're working to reduce people's dependence on non-free software, we support users who are still dependent. Additionally, we will work to find, package and support free alternatives to non-free software so people who use only free software can work with users of non-free software. - -- Raul -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBQAOHMfK/+Baey4gJAQGzCggAj1tdBTVRYCtKBqVVj6xRtTvvP5ilz4oA p8sYwCDCu6/e3AtJa4W936PnRGBUIea/oX5oTbBkll8CSeTs92KO0YcxW2rJ91C5 mkat9Nz666c94a8iVI8UzbcAdKB15+TjKjJTf84dWs9X/Ub6dwdKHOxYOzsbQXPV PAvCtqdR7Q9m97G6n/2CB2LuoL5HugVpiL7A/r7PwcONPkBAkNmcYGpatZKGyQqm wnz7s7msXZUMlhWv1Wmnad8WLeuflhAoxMfUadlBedEYVFGVlJ/1vFQcg9TD5056 meISpFhoBLrA25A+zyoQzhIFv6Euh1Rn4fz7HQgWJfU8rc9AvaOfhw== =zFvO -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]