Marc Haber <[email protected]> writes: > Hi, > > On Thu, Aug 13, 2026 at 12:40:07PM +0200, Gard Spreemann wrote: >>Could you explain a bit what the backstory here is, for those of us who >>haven't been around that long? > > https://www.debian.org/vote/2004/vote_003 > > Back in 2004, we voted on something that was harmlessly titled "Editorial > amendments to the social contract" and sounded like it would make very much > sense, clarifying things without making big changes ot the status quo. > > The GR had just two options and was given the nod with a 174:39 result. > > But it wasn't harmless at all. It extended the DFSG that applied to software > only before to everything that was part of Debian. Hours after the result was > published, people who value a non-running OS that is absolutely free more > than a > pragmatic approach by keeping the software running opened bottles of champaign > and began efforts to get evil things like RFC texts and non-free firmware that > was already needed back then to run unimportant pieces of hardware like > mainstream Wifi interfaces from Deban proper. > > The resulting avalanche of suddenly RC-buggy packages delayed the release of > Debian sarge for about a year, caused huge friction inside the project and > brought us the non-free firmware discussion that negatively influenced our > software quality and ease of installation for 20 years before we finally > started > making sense again. > > Ubuntu had its first release half a year after that GR and was able to pull a > significant number of our users away from us in the following years, due to > their running everywhere and us not releasing sarge. > > Since then, I always read all of the fine print of every GR that is proposed, > examining it carefully for hidden bombs like that one. This will also be the > reason why I will vote most of the ballot options below NOTA this time. > > Once bitten, twice shy.
Thank you for this summary. I much appreciate it! Best, Gard
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