Re: Free Software criteria -- about "Software distributions"

[Richard Stallman]

    If the non-free package is present in a package selection system, that
    usually means that selecting a free software package may automatically
    install it, in certain circumstances.

Depending on how the dependencies are set up in a system, the system
may or may not ever load the non-free package it as a dependency of a
free package.

The inclusion of the non-free package, for optional selection, is a
fatal blot regardlss of whether any free package has it as a
dependency.

                                           So, I think "automatically
    install" is strong enough to cover that real life example.

It is not strong enough.  Consider a system whose package selection
mechanism offers installation of a non-free package which is normally
nonselected and no free package depends on it.

Then the non-free package will never be automatically installed.
But it is still bad: the system promotes and encourages its use
by listing it in the list of packages.

That is why the right criterion is "promoting or encouraging the use
of non-free software".

    > The criterion we use in the GNU Project is that of "promoting or
    > encouraging the use of non-free software".  This means anything that
    > would tend to lead people towards non-free programs.

    I think that is far too broad.  The GNU Project itself encourages the
    use of non-free-software: its manuals.

Our manuals, while free, are not software.

The standards GNU packages say they should not to refer to non-free
documentation.  But I don't know that we must raise the issue of
non-free documentation in this context.  Anyway, right now we are
talking about recommending non-free _software_.  Let's deal
with that issue.

    maybe not even that, if mere capability to install non-debian non-free
    software counts as "promoting or encouraging" its use.

General purpose installation software can install anything, and
therefore does not particularly promote or encourage any one kind of
software more than other kinds.  That is not promoting or
encouraging non-free software.

The criterion is not hard to apply.  If you try to find the right
interpretation, it is not hard to see.

If you try to look for wrong interpretations, of course you can find
them.  But that is nonconstructive, so please don't do it here.