[Please direct followups to debian-vote.] Now that the vote over the meaning of clause 4.1.5 of the Debian Constitution is drawing to a close, the time is ripe to clear the last bit of pending business from the discussions of the summer of 2000.
My proposal to amend the Debian Social Contract follows. You can find the text of the existing Debian Social Contract at <URL: http://www.debian.org/social_contract > or on your Debian system in the file /usr/share/doc/debian/social-contract.txt if you have the doc-debian package installed. ***************************************************************** "Social Contract" with the Free Software Community {+[PROPOSED DRAFT FOR AMENDMENT; NOT OFFICIAL]+} 1. Debian Will Remain 100% Free [-Software-] We promise to [-keep the-] {+preserve your right to freely use, modify, and distribute+} Debian [-GNU/Linux Distribution entirely free software. As there are many definitions of free software, we-] {+operating system distributions. We+} include the guidelines we use to determine if [-software-] {+a work+} is "free" [-below.-] {+in a document called the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Every work contained in our distributions will satisfy those guidelines.+} We will support our users who develop and run non-free software on Debian, but we will never make the system depend on an item of non-free software. 2. We Will Give Back to the Free Software Community When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license them as [-free software.-] {+freely in a manner consistent with the Debian Free Software Guidelines.+} We will make the best system we can, so that free software {+and other works+} will be widely distributed and used. We will [-feed back bug-fixes,-] {+communicate bug fixes,+} improvements, user requests, etc. to the "upstream" authors of software {+and other works+} included in our system. 3. We [-Won't-] {+Will Not+} Hide Problems We will keep our entire [-bug-report-] {+bug report+} database open for public view at all times. Reports that users file [-on-line-] {+online+} will [-immediately-] {+promptly+} become visible to [-others.-] {+others without requiring manual approval. Project discussions will be held in forums open to public participation except where absolutely necessary. We are committed to transparency and accountability in our decision-making processes.+} 4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software We will be guided by the needs of our users and the [-free-software-] {+free software+} community. We will place their interests first in our priorities. We will support the needs of our users for operation in many different kinds of computing environment. We [-won't-] {+will not+} object to commercial software that is intended to run on Debian systems, and [-we'll-] {+we will+} allow others to create value-added distributions containing both Debian and commercial software, without any fee from us. [-To support-] {+In furtherance of+} these goals, we will provide an integrated system of [-high-quality, 100% free software,-] {+high-quality works of software and other materials+} with no legal restrictions that would prevent these [-kinds of use. 5. Programs That Don't Meet Our Free-Software Standards We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of programs that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our FTP archive for this software. The software in these directories is not part of the Debian system, although it has been configured for use with Debian. We encourage CD manufacturers to read the licenses of software packages in these directories and determine if they can distribute that software on their CDs. Thus, although non-free software isn't a part-] {+uses+} of [-Debian, we support its use, and we provide infrastructure (such as-] our [-bug-tracking-] {+operating+} system [-and mailing lists) for non-free software packages.-] {+distributions.+} ***************************************************************** [N.B.: wdiff produced possibly confusing output. If you look carefully, you will see that clause 5 has been stricken entirely.] Some of my amendments are semantic; that is, they change the meaning of the Social Contract, whereas others are editorial; that is, they change the wording of the Social Contract in an effort to convey the intended meaning (as I understand it) in a clearer way. Rationales for amendments: 1) I felt it was important and useful to elaborate upon some of the core freedoms we mean when talking about "free software" (or free documentation, free images, etc.): those are the freedoms to use, modify, and/or distribute the work in question. 2) Debian has been, and is increasingly, more than just a GNU/Linux distribution. We produce multiple operating systems, and it does not stand to reason that our GNU/Linux distribution will be the only one worthy of a stable release forever. I have thus generalized the language to "Debian operating system distributions" instead of "Debian GNU/Linux Distribution". 3) The DFSG is, in my opinion, a separate work from the Social Contract, and has a different scope. I have tweaked the wording of SC #1 so that people don't always expect to find the text of the DFSG "below". I do not seek to stop us from distributing the documents together, however, and this proposal has no bearing on such a decision. 4) This proposal expands the language of our committment to freedom beyond just "software". This proposal does not call for a renaming of the DFSG, however, nor for the creation of another document to provide guidelines for "non-software" works. 5) "feed back bug-fixes" felt like an awkward construction to me. This is an editorial, not a semantic, change. 6) I expanded the contractions "we'll" to "we will" and "won't" to "will not"; another editorial change. 7) The GCIDE prefers "online" to "on-line", and so do I; this is an editorial change. 8) We cannot literally commit to bug reports becoming publicly visible "immediately". We can commit to "promptly", however, and explicitly spell out what was left implicit in the origianl Social Contract: we will not have a staff of gatekeepers deciding which bug reports get to be seen by the public, as practically all commercial software interests do. 9) I have expanded the premise of SC #3 to cover grounds other than just the BTS and technical problems in our products. Back in 1998, a lot of non-technical discussions took place on -private (such as the discussion of the Social Contract itself), but Debian has evolved away from that, and nowadays traffic on -private is far more restricted. I propose amending SC #3 to reflect this evolution, and our need for greater transparency in accountability so that our Project works better not just for the sake of the Free Software community, but for our own developers, who are far more numerous now than they were in 1998. Our committment to the principles in my proposed clause 3 will help us ensure that we scale to meet the demands placed on us by our larger (and still increasing) size. 10) I propose "free software community" instead of "free-software community"; an editorial change. The concept of "free software" has gained currency over the past 5 years as the GNU/Linux has increased its profile, and I think we can afford to refer to it as such in our Social Contract without confusing too many people. 11) I changed "To support the goals" to "In furtherance of these goals"; an editorial change that implies (to me, anyway) more forceful and directed action. 12) In both clause 1 and clause 5, I have replaced the phrase "100% free software" with other constructions that are, hopefully, less ambiguous, especially to those who must translate the Social Contract into other languages. (This is not a made-up problem; it was brought to the attention of the debian-legal list earlier this year.) 13) Clause 5 has been stricken entirely. *This amendment does NOT mandate the removal of the non-free section from anything, anywhere.* What it does do is withdraw our commitment to provide a "non-free section" via a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) archive specifically. This makes it possible for us to decide, in the near or distant future, to stop distributing the non-free section without violating our own Social Contract. I am seeking seconds and editorial amendments to this proposed General Resolution. The full texts of the existing Social Contract as it stands, and as it would appear if the above amendments were accepted, are MIME-attached. (The draft also include a prominent notice of its unofficial status, too, of course, so that no one is confused.) -- G. Branden Robinson | You don't just decide to break Debian GNU/Linux | Kubrick's code of silence and then [EMAIL PROTECTED] | get drawn away from it to a http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | discussion about cough medicine.
"Social Contract" with the Free Software Community 1. Debian Will Remain 100% Free Software We promise to keep the Debian GNU/Linux Distribution entirely free software. As there are many definitions of free software, we include the guidelines we use to determine if software is "free" below. We will support our users who develop and run non-free software on Debian, but we will never make the system depend on an item of non-free software. 2. We Will Give Back to the Free Software Community When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license them as free software. We will make the best system we can, so that free software will be widely distributed and used. We will feed back bug-fixes, improvements, user requests, etc. to the "upstream" authors of software included in our system. 3. We Won't Hide Problems We will keep our entire bug-report database open for public view at all times. Reports that users file on-line will immediately become visible to others. 4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free-software community. We will place their interests first in our priorities. We will support the needs of our users for operation in many different kinds of computing environment. We won't object to commercial software that is intended to run on Debian systems, and we'll allow others to create value-added distributions containing both Debian and commercial software, without any fee from us. To support these goals, we will provide an integrated system of high-quality, 100% free software, with no legal restrictions that would prevent these kinds of use. 5. Programs That Don't Meet Our Free-Software Standards We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of programs that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our FTP archive for this software. The software in these directories is not part of the Debian system, although it has been configured for use with Debian. We encourage CD manufacturers to read the licenses of software packages in these directories and determine if they can distribute that software on their CDs. Thus, although non-free software isn't a part of Debian, we support its use, and we provide infrastructure (such as our bug-tracking system and mailing lists) for non-free software packages.
"Social Contract" with the Free Software Community [PROPOSED DRAFT FOR AMENDMENT; NOT OFFICIAL] 1. Debian Will Remain 100% Free We promise to preserve your right to freely use, modify, and distribute Debian operating system distributions. We include the guidelines we use to determine if a work is "free" in a document called the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Every work contained in our distributions will satisfy those guidelines. We will support our users who develop and run non-free software on Debian, but we will never make the system depend on an item of non-free software. 2. We Will Give Back to the Free Software Community When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license them as freely in a manner consistent with the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We will make the best system we can, so that free software and other works will be widely distributed and used. We will communicate bug fixes, improvements, user requests, etc. to the "upstream" authors of software and other works included in our system. 3. We Will Not Hide Problems We will keep our entire bug report database open for public view at all times. Reports that users file online will promptly become visible to others without requiring manual approval. Project discussions will be held in forums open to public participation except where absolutely necessary. We are committed to transparency and accountability in our decision-making processes. 4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free software community. We will place their interests first in our priorities. We will support the needs of our users for operation in many different kinds of computing environment. We will not object to commercial software that is intended to run on Debian systems, and we will allow others to create value-added distributions containing both Debian and commercial software, without any fee from us. In furtherance of these goals, we will provide an integrated system of high-quality works of software and other materials with no legal restrictions that would prevent these uses of our operating system distributions.
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