| > As has been said before, the ports tree is just a
| > scaffold, used to force third party programs (be they free or non-free
| > and for whatever value of freedom you wish) to install into a sane and
| > known location within the filesystem, easing the task of installing
| > and uninstalling said program. This, in no way, encourages or promotes
| > the use of said software (free or non-free).
| >
| It is an expression of values. Personally it is a pretty clear one.
Apparantly, someone valued the program enough to warrant the effort of
writing a port for it.
I think you and he are talking past each other. You're talking about
value; he's talking about values.
When you talk of seeing "value" in a non-free program, that word
presumes a certain set of values, values that value convenience more
and freedom less.
Lots of people have those values; they are the ones that lead people
to develop, distribute, and use non-free software. And the practice
of developing, distributing, and/or using non-free software promotes
those values.
I abhor those values; I want to teach people to value freedom enough
to reject non-free software. To do this, I must conspicuously avoid
acting the way those values would lead me to act. That is the reason
for many of my decisions, including the decision not to recommend
distros that lead people to non-free software.
