-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 All packages should have local descriptions of what the bindist USE-flag specifically does. This should be a policy when writing ebuilds that include it.
The bindist USE-flag is for avoiding components in a package that would result in non-re-distributable binary packages. The generic global description is "Flag to enable or disable options for prebuilt (GRP) packages (eg. due to licensing issues)". This is very vague. It does not in any way explain the specifics of what enabling the flag will do. This means that each package should describe what it specifically does. www-client/firefox-10.0.11 is one example that does this properly with "Disable official Firefox branding (icons, name) which are not binary-redistributable according to upstream." This is perfectly descriptive. net-misc/openssh is one example that does not have a local/specific description. To me, this is unacceptable. Someone who cares enough about licensing and distribution etc. to set the bindist USE-flag, will likely care about the specifics of the it as well. Furthermore, different people find different things unacceptable. As an example, patent-encumbered codec support in ffmpeg is something that might be considered unacceptable to some. However, the very same people might not be worried about trademark/branding-related issues, such as is the case with Firefox. This is comparable to how some find the GPL acceptable, but not the Artistic License 1.0, and ebuilds do indeed require the licence -- not LICENSE="free-ish". I have filed bug reports for the affected packages. However, to avoid this becoming an issue in the future I think it would be fruitful to have a policy or something to make sure all ebuilds that make use of the bindist USE-flag at the very least describe *what* toggling it does in the context of that specific package, and preferably also *why* the flag exists in the first place. This will summarise the problem and the solution that USE=+bindist offers for the end-user. I don't find it acceptable to make the details "left as an exercise" to the user. The affected packages per now* are all versions of: dev-db/libdbi-drivers dev-db/opendbx dev-libs/gf2x gnome-extra/libgda kde-base/oxygen-icons media-libs/freetype media-libs/libaacplus media-libs/mediastreamer media-libs/mesa media-plugins/mediastreamer-silk media-video/ffmpeg media-video/libav media-video/mplayer media-video/mplayer2 net-dialup/freeradius net-libs/gnutls net-libs/liboauth net-misc/openssh net-misc/vpnc sci-visualization/qtiplot Newer versions of gnutls don't have the USE-flag, so I'll let that one slide. ffmpeg is problematic... see: <https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=369249>. *27/12/12 21:38 - - -- Alexander alexan...@plaimi.net http://plaimi.net/~alexander -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.19 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iF4EAREIAAYFAlDfgr4ACgkQRtClrXBQc7Uk1wEAjWXbV8bYtsUu6BXFRXhBXcMr 5eEHDbA9BTcXg+ouKsUA/RAKFzGA/gW40oSpJecf3zics7wQ4h7xYhPbbtvGvF9x =xkAA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
