[GNUz] Slashdor discussion of php/mysql/gpl

[Jim Cheetham]

InfoHelp wrote:
> Nick Rout wrote:
>> Hey Rik, just a thought, remember your thoughts (and the gnu philosphy)
>> about free software when you next recommend SuSE - the "usabilty"
>> features such as easy installation of modems means the distro includes
>> some non free software :-)

> And how is any difference playing out in the public behaviour of our LUG?

Because it was a comment on your own personal beliefs? - promotion of 
GNU/Linux and SuSE simultaneously are potentially contradictory. 
However, because of my next answer, you have no clear way out of this.
> 
> Are there more GNU-like (GPL'd) distros we should be recommending? Is 
> that the essential point?

There is no GNU Operating System or distribution.
The distribution that thinks it's the most GNU-like is "Debian 
GNU/Linux". It was funded either by FSF or GNU when it started, for 
goodness sake.
However, RMS says that this is now non-free, because there are some 
non-free packages that can be downloaded from the Debian web servers.

Understanding the Debian packaging in more detail is useful to this point :-

> As a service to our users, we also provide packages in separate sections that can not be included in the main distribution due to either a restrictive license or legal issues. They include:
> Contrib
> Packages in this area are freely licensed by the copyright holder but depend on other software that is not free.
> Non-Free
> Packages in this area have some onerous license condition restricting use or redistribution of the software.
> Non-US/Main
> Packages in this area are free themselves but cannot be exported from a server in the U.S.
> Non-US/Non-Free
> Packages in this area have some onerous license condition restricting use or redistribution of the software. They cannot be exported from the U.S. because they are encryption software packages that are not handled by the export control procedure that is used for the packages in Main or they cannot be stored on a server in the U.S because they are encumbered by patent issues.
> 
> Note that same packages might appear in several distributions, but with different version numbers.

RMS seems to object to the acknowledgement that some users find non-free 
software to be something that they want to use. He doesn't say that a 
GNU operating system should *prevent* people from using non-free 
software (i.e. by downloading the sources) but does say that Debian 
should prevent the *easy* use of non-free software. I don't really agree 
with this position.

I don't see that CLUG has to favour a free Linux distro over a 
potentially non-free Linux distro. CLUG is for promoting Linux. Witness 
the Mandrake CD4 comversations at the moment ...

On the other hand, GNUz should favour a "FSF-free" distro. But there 
isn't one. I'd recommend compromise on Debian, but RMS does not do 
compromise. At some stage, the world at large must be able to separate 
RMS's personal opinions from the FSF/GNU positions.

-jim