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Is Okular doing the right thing?Is Okular doing the right thing?Posted Jun 2, 2009 19:58 UTC (Tue) by ncm (subscriber, #165)In reply to: Is Okular doing the right thing? by MattPerry Parent article: Okular, Debian, and copy restrictions
Fair Use does not mean convenience. Free Software means convenience. Artificially enforced inconvenience is incompatible with the Free Software ethos. If you don't like what Free Software is about, what are you doing here?
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Is Okular doing the right thing? Posted Jun 2, 2009 21:51 UTC (Tue) by sepreece (subscriber, #19270) [Link]
Free software means you, as the user of the software, can do what you want - you can set the configuration option or you can rebuild the package to change default, just as you can decide that it's inconvenient that cp observes the system access rules and change it so it lets you copy files regardless of the permission bits, assuming it's a system that you can install your own kernel on.
Free software ideals don't define what the software does out of the box, just that you're allowed to change it.
Okular has kindly provided a configuration bit to let you change it without doing any programming. Say, "Thank you", don't say "But, you should do it my way by default and if you don't you're violating the ideals of free software."
Is Okular doing the right thing? Posted Jun 3, 2009 18:19 UTC (Wed) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link]
I'm not talking to the Okular developers. They can do whatever the hell they want, and it's none of my business. I'm talking to the Debian maintainers of the Okular package, who signed an agreement to abide by the Debian Social Contract. These package maintainers are catering to people who are not members of the Debian community at the expense of people who are, in violation of that Contract.
Is Okular doing the right thing? Posted Jun 3, 2009 23:28 UTC (Wed) by sepreece (subscriber, #19270) [Link]
I don't think there's anything about the default setting of the Okular option that "violates the Debian Social Contract" or violates the DFSG, unless there's a lot of understood subtext that I'm not aware of as an outsider. The software is, to the best of my knowledge, appropriately licensed, modifiable, and redistributable.
But, as noted, I'm an outsider, and if the Debian community feels violated by the default setting of a user-changeable option, by all means, change it...
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