Russ Allbery <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > The arguments that have been presented that say that requiring file > renaming is an infringment on the freedoms guaranteed by the DFSG are > certainly reasonable ones and I can find much in them to agree with, but > the DFSG really *aren't* clear on this point, and a ruling on the subject > does not just obviously fall out of what's already there.
DFSG says that you have to permit modification. (By patches or directly.) That is violated by a rule like "if you modify this, you must chant the kama sutra" or "if you modify this, you cannot name the output file foo.bar". The reason the latter is crucial is because it is an *operational* matter for the software, changing such things as APIs is exactly why we want the right to modify files. > (As an aside, once Debian reaches some sort of general conclusion on this, > it would be really nice to add that to either the DFSG or some supporting > material, since this has come up repeatedly for years and this exact > argument happens every time.) Eww, no. The current method is actually better. It takes time and patience, but the result is an ever-growing cadre of people who have thought it out and talked about it, and so much more deeply understand it than if they just read it in some document.