On Sun, 2007-01-28 at 21:38 -0500, Hal Vaughan wrote: > On Sunday 28 January 2007 18:33, Paul Johnson wrote: > ... > > > Do you see a difference? > > > > You could have cancelled and looked into why that is. iceweasel > > provides firefox because it *is* firefox. There is no functional > > difference between firefox and iceweasel. You're making a mountain > > out of a molehill. > > Here's the part I don't get. Even though I'm making a living as a > programmer, I'm self taught and have missed a lot -- and I don't know C > or C++. I've tried to make sense of the listing of what was taken out > of Firefox to make Iceweasel, yet I found it hard to follow. > > Just what was taken out as non-free if it doesn't effect functionality? > If it doesn't make a difference, why is it in there? Or have all the > non-free things been replaced by free code already?
The whole thing comes down to this. Previously, the LOGO was never included with what was called Firefox in Mozilla, as it was argued (incessantly on Debian Devel and on Debian Legal). It was finally found that the Logo restrictions the Mozilla Foundation had put on it was non-DFSG compliant. But the package was still called Firefox in Debian. The Mozilla Foundation formerly gave Debian an Exception to Distribute the package that way. Early last year (or maybe a bit before that) The Mozilla Foundation Declared that the Firefox package in Debian WAS NOT Mozilla Foundation Blessed anymore. It was required that Debian make it "Mozilla Foundation Sources" with the official Logo in it and be the source MUST NOT BE CHANGED beyond compile time changes. TO get changes in the source, and still be called Firefox, they had to be submitted to the "Mozilla Foundation" choosing to either include it or not. Delaying any "Security or bug" fixes possibly forever for Debian. This then compromised Debian's autonomy to provide its support for its own Distribution... or at best hamstrung it. They only way to fix this issue was to: 1. Get the Mozilla Foundation to compromise on its stance, allowing quid-pro-quo from before, They said it'll never happen, ever. They were "protecting" the Firefox Branding 2. Get Debian to compromise, making exceptions to its policy on DFSG. Thereby compromising the whole foundation that Debian is built upon. Possibly forcing hundreds of other compromises of the DFSG. 3. "Fork" the Firefox source, to be changed to the point where it was no longer defying the Mozilla Foundation's terms, but also complying with the Debian Free Software Guide(DFSG). I'll bet you can guess which one the maintainer(s) was(were) forced to choose. Any questions? -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Novell's Directory Services is a competitive product to Microsoft's Active Directory in much the same way that the Saturn V is a competitive product to those dinky little model rockets that kids light off down at the playfield. -- Thane Walkup
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