Revision [117]

This is an old revision of Blog20101013MageiaLegallyGreyPackages made by BenoitAudouard on 2010-10-13 22:58:02.

 

See Blog20101002MageiaLegalManagement too, this page focuses on packages and implications of distributing packages impacted by known-patents or having restricted-licenses.

This thread is actually good in getting different scenarios of implementing "legally grey" software packages. Maybe someone will take notes of the different methods that could be used to deliver these type of software packages and then the devs or the higher ups will obviously make the final decision after considering all of these "delivery" methods.

Reference threads for distributing legally-grey packages in Mageia

https://www.mageia.org/pipermail/mageia-dev/20101012/thread.html
https://www.mageia.org/pipermail/mageia-dev/20101013/thread.html
This page tries to note down and organize with titles several suggestions or implementation addressed.

Installing codecs or non-libre drivers from a user point of view

It would be nice to differentiate between free/non-free, this may not be done through seperate repos, but with some packaging magic like added metadata or some other dirty tricks ;) so that it is possible to have a free/libre install out-of-the box, asking during installation.
Or maybe always do a free/libre default install, and afterwards on the first boot with mageia, and after having set up repos, give the user the choice to have all codecs/multimedia stuff automatically installed by a package task-multimedia-magic, but presenting him an overview what that choice could mean: patent infringement, dmca-like stuff and so on.
So every user gets a free/libre default install, but automatically the choice to be able to play all sorts of multimedia files.
clearly a user decision to install them.
It's easy to communicate, it's easy to implement fitting even those "dumb" users some people are talking about. Yesterday I installed the new Ubuntu 10.10, a window opened near the end of the installation process telling me that my hardware may need/use a non-free driver which is available online. The text explains about the non-free status in simple words and then I was asked if I wanted to activate this non-free driver.
The same can be done with all that codec stuff. A window opens, telling the user that he will need some special software to listen to MP3s, watch his commercial DVDs, etc. The text explains in simple words the legal implications which may or may not apply to his country. After that he can decide with a simple mouse click on yes or no or "ask later" (if he has no working internet connection at that time. If he clicks on "activate", the needed software will be downloaded and installed. If he clicks on "ask later" he will be asked as soon as the script detects a working internet connection.
If he has selected "No" and still tries to open a commecrial DVD (or whatever) the window ill appear again reminding him why he can't play the DVD (or whatever).
Face it: we do not have any other choice but leave it at the user's decision. All we can do is make it simple if he chooses to bite the bullet.




CategoryBlogMageia
Valid XHTML :: Valid CSS: :: Powered by WikkaWiki