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Hi Tom, On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 11:06:10AM +0000, Tom Potts wrote: > Its about 'ownership'. Mozilla 'owns' the Firefox brand and wishes it to be a > certain way so anyone using Firefox knows what they're getting. Note the disparity between the behaviour you're describing and the goals of free software -- under the philosophy of free software you can't prevent changes to software by owning it in such a way. It will either reuslt in abandonment or fork. Note also that it is a goal of the iceweasel etc. packages not to be real forks but to follow the behaviour of firefox wherever possible. > Debian got all prissy and wanted to change it. Mozilla said no - thats their > right. Debian decided it couldnt get away without Firefox et all in its > distributions but rather than put it into the non free section it chose to > modify and rename. This benefited nobody. I'm sorry but you have it wrong. Debian needs to change the package for security reasons and for legal reasons (can't distribute non-free artwork etc.). Those are the facts, shorn of any emotive phrases like "prissy" and "wanted to change it." There was no choice available other than what has been done, or else dropping it from main. Personally I would have preferred they drop it from main and replace it with a dummy package that just explains the situation and tells people to download it from upstream. It would prevent a lot of comments like those seen in this thread that blame the situation on Debian. But if there are people wanting to put in the effort then so be it, this is also the free software way. > Thats not Mozillas fault - Debian chose to branch. Very little choice involved on Debian's part. > While I agree with Debians purist approach in many respects can you imagine > where Debian would be without 'proprietary' software and drivers?? Exactly where it is now. You don't agree in this instance, I get it -- fortunately you have choice. Cheers, Andy -- http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting Encrypted mail welcome - keyid 0x604DE5DB
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