-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- This is a call for seconds on the proposal I submitted on the 19th: http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2004/debian-vote-200401/msg01453.html
Many people have contributed to the wording of this proposal. I believe this proposal is an improvement over the current Social Contract, and I also believe it's better than the currently available alternatives. I don't participate much in other forums (such as IRC) -- if you think this proposal is worth seconding, and it hasn't gotten enough sponsors yet, please bring it to the attention of other people who you think might want to sponsor it. The proposal needs five sponsors to be introduced. A couple extra won't hurt, and might be a good precaution against errors. The rationale for this proposal is: clean up the social contract, make it less ambiguous, and bring its words in line with the way we have been interpreting it. This includes continuing our existing support for non-free software. The social contract was originally written to address scepticism that Debian would eventually turn into a commercial operation, and questions about what exactly we were doing. I think it's done a pretty good job, but there have been a few lingering questions based on ambiguous turns of phrase in the text. Although it's impossible to eliminate all ambiguity from a document of this nature, it is possible to address specific concerns by looking at how we as a group have been interpreting the contract, which is what I've tried to do here. This proposal is formally an amendment of Andrew Suffield's proposal http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2003/debian-vote-200312/msg00044.html striking all text but "I propose the following resolution" and replacing that text as follows: - -- I propose the following resolution: We will replace our social contract with two documents, as specified by the recent constitutional amendment. The first replacement document will be the social contract below, and the second replacement document will be the Debian Free Software Guidelines extracted from the remainder of the original social contract. Here's the replacement for the social contract: Debian's Social Contract The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This is the "social contract" we offer to the free software community. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Social Contract" with the Free Software Community 1. Debian will remain 100% free software Debian exists to distribute a general purpose system composed of entirely free software. As there are many definitions of free software, we use the "Debian Free Software Guidelines" to determine if software is free. We will also support our users who develop and run other software on Debian -- free or non-free -- but we will never make the system depend on 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 in a manner consistent with the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We will make the best system we can, so that free works will be widely distributed and used. We will communicate things such as bug fixes, improvements and user requests to the "upstream" authors of 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 people file online will promptly 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 environments. We will not object to non-free works that are intended to be used on Debian systems, or attempt to charge a fee to people who create or use such works. We will allow others to create distributions containing both the Debian system and other works, without any fee from us. In furtherance of these goals, we will provide an integrated system of high-quality materials with no legal restrictions that would prevent such uses of the system. 5. Software that doesn't meet our free-software standards We acknowledge that some, but not all, of our users require the use of software which does not conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. In order to accommodate these users, we have created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our internet archive. The software in "non-free" satisfies some, but not all, of our guidelines and we do not guarantee all software in the non-free area may be distributed in other ways. For those who need to run software we do not distribute, free or non-free, we support worthy application binary interface standards and namespace management standards. Additionally, we will work to find, package and support free alternatives to non-free software so people who use only free software can work with users of non-free software. - -- Raul -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBQA57i/K/+Baey4gJAQEFQAgAuUF5hBh3kF61M/d8UFgrtYJtVns+A6Ic WudOTTTjyIqmkdYKdx2W5JarUFCCuUYQhOeQtSJyAnQy+OmyFMb2L4V47wBHaJBX ZIG4UHWy8tjbVxEx0smLc1PEIxs/dz4D7mEViWzipw/Kssu6F2zUlNEfrroWKAy2 klEHy8Fa00hbOek27v0+TQ+01ZXff+Ib/W4K6j54j6UzMIjWtKFR1We0aHOWCZZt WY/cLuYFZTrbCx7cyfP6fDQklBLs1oxI63lmWwyuJtuk/M3JyHXyv6hk6ZDJj8yA Gu7UWr6ycOhB1usPFdKrX8LX2BaF5sD8Lh2dtLLDWbg8I4UUJc+pIQ== =OAOR -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----