,--------------- Forwarded message (begin) Subject: Re: handling Mozilla with kid gloves [was: GUADEC report] From: Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 02:08:12 -0400 Newsgroup: gmane.linux.debian.devel.project,gmane.linux.debian.devel.legal
Colin Watson wrote: > It's good that we study and question their licensing decisions. However, > I think that in order for releases to be possible the release manager > must have the freedom to decide "this is still an improvement over what > we used to have" That is always OK, as long as it's not an excuse for putting off changes due to licensing problems forever. > and release anyway while the discussion is pending, in > cases where the debate is over what Debian finds acceptable and not over > licence violations. Otherwise debian-legal has the entire project over a > barrel: we must be in a situation where every important component is > simultaneously not in question, and the mere existence of question in > any important component is sufficient to stop us releasing, even when we > haven't regressed. Nobody has suggested this. As long as it's not an excuse to put off changes due to licensing problems forever. (The exception is non-distributability bugs. Legally, Debian is in serious danger if copyrighted material which does not have clear permission to distribute is distributed, particularly if we know about it. These *should* hold the entire project over a barrel. Luckily they don't seem to come up *too* often.) > (Compare the policy on fails-to-build-from-source > bugs: if it hasn't built on that architecture before, i.e. hasn't > regressed, then it isn't release-critical.) > > The perfect is the enemy of the good. > > The flames that issue forth every time someone dares to downgrade Well, duh, they *are* serious. Isn't that what 'sarge-ignore' was invented for? > or > suggest temporarily ignoring a "foo is non-free" bug that came from > -legal speak for themselves. Temporary is fine -- as long as it isn't an excuse to ignore it forever. All too often, it *is*. -- There are none so blind as those who will not see. `--------------- Forwarded message (end)