Bug of feature? [LWN.net]

Bug of feature?

Posted Jul 2, 2026 11:25 UTC (Thu) by pizza (subscriber, #46)
In reply to: Bug of feature? by evgeny
Parent article: Xsnow "protestware" in Debian

> Do you believe *any* Russian citizen, unconditionally, whether they are a combatant or not, whether they support the war or not, whether they are a child or not, must be punished? I want to hear your opinion, not your hypothetical Ukrainian friend.

Do you believe in collectively punishing *everyone else* is an acceptable way to avoid possibly punishing any Russian citizen?

Because that's the other side of your very-much-hypothetical question.

Bug of feature?

Posted Jul 2, 2026 12:58 UTC (Thu) by LtWorf (subscriber, #124958) [Link] (2 responses)

> Do you believe in collectively punishing *everyone else* is an acceptable way to avoid possibly punishing any Russian citizen?

To be clear, removing a ukrainian flag from a software that is supposed to show christmas decorations doesn't punish anyone.

I've never heard of anyone that coming December takes out the box with the Ukrainian flags.

Do you know such a person to exist?

Bug of feature?

Posted Jul 2, 2026 13:27 UTC (Thu) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link] (1 responses)

> To be clear, removing a ukrainian flag from a software that is supposed to show christmas decorations doesn't punish anyone.

What if those folks wanted that feature and are now deprived of the pleasure of using it? Yes, it's a very light punishment, but so what?

At best, this entire conversation is effectively just a watered-down variant of the classic "who is more important" trolley problem. At worst, it treats the aggressor and targets of a brutal war as morally equivalent.

Let's stop here

Posted Jul 2, 2026 14:10 UTC (Thu) by jzb (editor, #7867) [Link]

At this point I think we've reached the point where no minds are being changed and no new information is on offer. Let's move on, please.