On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 00:06:12 +0000 Matthew Garrett wrote:

> Francesco Poli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> > Exactly.
> > DFSG #8 seems quite clear to me: we do *not* consider Free
> > something that gives all the other important freedoms to Debian
> > only, and not to downstream recipients as well.
> 
> There's some contention over this. Based on the discussion on
> debian-private that led to the DFSG, I think 8 was effectively
> shorthand for ensuring that every freedom enumerated in the DFSG was
> available to any further recipients. Others disagree. I asked Bruce
> about this, but never got a reply.
> 
> Personally, I have no objection to Debian being given freedoms that
> other users don't, providing that everyone obtains rights that satisfy
> the DFSG.

Yes, that's what I meant: my "important freedoms" referred to the ones
enumerated in the other DFSG...
If someone gets one additional freedom, that's fine, as long as nobody
lacks the minimum set of freedoms necessary to call something Free.

Example:

 This work is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2, as
 published by the Free Software Foundation.

 [an so on...]

 As a special exception, the Debian project (and its mirror network) is
 permitted to copy and distribute the Program in object code or
 executable form under the terms of Sections 1, without complying with
 clauses a, b or c of Section 3.

This would be perfectly fine, I think: everyone has enough freedoms (the
ones specified by the DFSG); someone simply has an additional one.


-- 
          Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
......................................................................
  Francesco Poli                             GnuPG Key ID = DD6DFCF4
 Key fingerprint = C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12  31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4

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