[GNUz] GNU/Linux ...

[Timothy Musson]

Nick Rout, 2004-07-03 21:44:22:
> I think a pure gnu/linux distro would be destructive of choices, and
> choice is a big reason for people changing from windows in the first
> place.
 
> why restrict choice to gnu and the kernel?

Well, yes, you're right.


> is there a big problem with the apache license? or the sendmail
> license?

So long as their licenses count as Free Software licenses, I don't
see a problem. So yeah, I'm taking back what I said in my reply to Jim,
a little. A distro consisting purely of GPL'd software isn't necessary.
Free Software is the goal, after all, and the GPL isn't the only Free
Software license. See:

  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

The bigger problem with getting people interested, I think, is that a
completely Free OS lacks things people just naturally expect to have -
like Flash, RealPlayer, etc., proprietary media player codecs, and some
hardware drivers. (I think all this will change, but not soon.) And
people tend to blame the OS and its developers for this, rather than
encouraging the manufacturers/proprietors to open up.

(Actually, I think Real _might_ be coming 'round, but I haven't had a
close look at what they're doing (wrt the Helix Player), so I'm not
sure.)


> I posted a list of the licenses on the mandrake 4 cd on the CLUG or
> installfest list a few weeks ago, certainly many were not GPL.

Thanks! (I missed it, but will look it up in the archives.)

 
> how about seeing what licenses are on the packages on your system? Its
> pretty easy with an rpm system. of course a GPL license is not an
> indication of a package being part of GNU/FSF, but a different license
> would probably count it out.

I don't know whether or not it's possible to get package license info
easily under Debian, though it's easy enough to remove (or not add) the
non-free section via apt's sources.list.

Fun: the "vrms" (Virtual RMS) package gets its thrills by sending me a
monthly reminder to uninstall the non-free "unzip" package. ("unzip" is
the only non-free prog I haven't found a way to avoid.)


Tim
-- 
Timothy Musson  -  trmusson@ihug.co.nz
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~trmusson/