Fedora Freedom and linux-libre

[jeff]

Rahul Sundaram wrote:
> jeff wrote:
>> Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>>> jeff wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "We try to always do the right thing, and provide only free and open 
>>>> source
>>>> software." [1]
>>>>
>>>> It's simply not true and the author of that (Rahul Sundaram I 
>>>> think--he writes it everywhere else too)
>>>
>>> Sorry. That's not me. Don't blame me unnecessarily. Besides what is 
>>> the right thing varies depending on the context and is a subjective 
>>> thing.
>>
>> Ah, sorry, I took a quick look at the wiki history and saw your name 
>> there (but didn't pin down the actual line)
> 
> I edit the wiki all the time but that doesn't mean all of the content 
> there is written by me. You have to be more careful about who you 
> attribute the source.

Well I did hedge it with "Rahul Sundaram I think". The edit history is actually 
lost since the wiki move (which looks soooo much nicer, btw).

I was also thinking about this quote you wrote in lwn:
"Fedora does not develop or use any proprietary software or service and doesn't 
have a non-free repository either."[1]

You do know that Fedora uses and distributes proprietary software, right? Your 
repo itself is non-free since it contains non-free software. (And for people 
arguing for different definitions of "free" the Fedora Overview page links 
directly to the FSF's definition, so that's what Fedora itself is using.[2])

rahulsundaram on lwn.net:
"Fedora does not even have a non-free repository."[3]

"Fedora doesnt endorse non-free repositories in anyway."[4]

"The Fedora Project builds a world-class Linux operating system,
consisting of entirely free (meaning both zero-cost and full source
code available) software"[5]

"Fedora Project has explicit objectives 
(http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Objectives) to be a Free and open source 
distribution."[6]

"Kmod's are only going away in the official repository which was only including 
free and open source code anyway and hence for proprietary drivers the Fedora 
change makes no difference."[7]

etc....

And that's just under the lwn.net domain...

>> Also, I wasn't arguing about the "right thing" part of it, but the 
>> "provide *ONLY* free and open source software" part.
> 
> Reading the whole thing in context helps. We are trying to. We might not 
> be there just yet but we are a doing a hell lot better than most 
> distributions.

Oh I agree. I mean, xandros includes crap like skype, for instance. But it's 
also quite clear that Fedora *knows* it is distributing plenty of non-free 
software and they are OK with that--in fact, it's part of policy.

> Pissing off your best allies isn't going to achieve your 
> goal.

Well, I wasn't trying to piss you off, but I probably have now, by quoting you 
to you! sry.

-Jeff

[1] http://lwn.net/Articles/277038/
[2] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
[3] http://lwn.net/Articles/274000/
[4] http://lwn.net/Articles/207240/
[5] http://lwn.net/Articles/259255/ (this from a list)
[6] http://lwn.net/Articles/196693/
[7] http://lwn.net/Articles/277024/