Re: [GNU-linux-libre] [Dev] [consensus][due: 2016-06-13]: New version for Parabola Social Contract

[Luke]

On 06/11/2016 11:42 PM, Luke Shumaker wrote:

Hi guys,

I've written my own version of the Free Culture bits, and revised the
draft that I submitted before.

You can look at the changes I've made in git[0] (I recommend cloning
it, and using GNU wdiff's `-d` flag to view changes.  I wish cgit had
a `wiff` mode).

Some notes about meaning:
 - I've inserted the Free Culture bit as item 2, bumping the remaining
   items up.  I absolutely believe that it should be its own item, and
   not be rolled into the Free Software item.
 - The the Free Culture item is based heavily on §2(b) of our
   agreement with Ceata[2].
 - Based on fauno's and my comments n this thread, I've revised the
   external links.
 - It says "democratic" in item 4.  Marcio wants to change that to
   "adhocratic".  I think this should be discussed, but defer to the
   original version's use of "democratic".

Some notes about language:
 - I've normalized on saying "Free" instead of "libre".  I'd tried
   normalizing on "libre"[1], but with adding a section on Free
   Culture, it read weird to mention the Free Software Movement, the
   Free system Distribution Guidelines, Free Culture, et c. while
   never saying "Free" except in the names of things.
 - I've fixed up the grammar and language.  It now consistently speaks
   of Parabola in the first person, and uses the present tense (except
   for item 5).  Before it varied, even within sentences.  Item 5 is
   in the future tense because I couldn't make it sound good in the
   present tense.
 - To refer to Arch, I wrote “GNU/Linux system "Arch Linux"”.  I
   believe that this acknowledges the name that the Arch devs have
   chosen, but avoids supporting their mistake.

[0]: https://projects.parabola.nu/~lukeshu/social-contract.git/tree/Parabola_Social_Contract.md?h=proposals/lukeshu&id=89181428abb804ec94ed17b8732ff71540b01bdb
[1]: https://projects.parabola.nu/~lukeshu/social-contract.git/tree/Parabola_Social_Contract.md?h=proposals/lukeshu&id=4bff3eb91bbd883ae584401fd660855f16a1e055
[2]: https://projects.parabola.nu/ceata-agreement.git/tree/Parabola+Ceata_Agreement.markdown

----
Title: Parabola Social Contract

The Parabola Social Contract is the commitment that we, the Parabola
project, make to the Free Software community in general and our users in
particular. It is because of this that our social contract will always
follow the philosophy of Free knowledge. All amendments to this social
contract must be faithful to the spirit of the [Free Software
Movement](https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software).

1.  **Parabola is Free Software**: Products of the Parabola project
    follow the [GNU Free System Distribution
    Guidelines](http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html).
    They do not include or recommend non-Free software or documentation
    and do not provide any type of support for the installation or
    execution of non-Free software. This includes: proprietary software,
    binary only firmware or binary blobs.
2.  **Parabola is Free Culture**: All documentation and cultural works
    included in products of the Parabola project are [Free
    Culture](http://freedomdefined.org/Definition), with the exceptions
    of: non-modifiable license texts, works under the GNU Free
    Documentation License with invariant sections, and works of opinion.
    All documentation and cultural works created by or for Parabola are
    Free Culture, with no exceptions.
3.  **Parabola and other distributions**: Parabola's objective is to
    support the Free Software Movement, so we only need to compete
    against non-Free software; other Free Software projects are to be
    cooperated with, not competed with. Parabola strives to support
    other Free Software projects as best we can and any information from
    our project is available for anybody who needs it. That includes our
    packages and repositories.
4.  **Parabola and its community**: Parabola's community is democratic
    in its essence, so the community is to be included whenever there is
    a need to make a decision. We encourage community participation in
    the development of the project.
5.  **Parabola and Arch Linux**: Parabola will produce an operating
    system that is a Free version of the GNU/Linux system "[Arch
    Linux](http://www.archlinux.org/)" and possibly other
    Arch-based systems. We will provide repositories and installation
    media without any non-Free software. All Parabola operating systems
    will be backward compatible with the system they are based on, as to
    help liberate already working installations. We will respect the
    design philosophies of the systems ours are based on, to reduce
    friction from both developer and user viewpoints.

Overall the new layout you proposed seems reasonable, however I'm pretty sure that consensus was to not call it "Arch Linux" at all. This is in order to remain in good standing with the GNU project.

Per a previous e-mail from RMS:

---

In this case, you have to choose to give this kind of respect
either to the developers of Arch GNU/Linux or to the GNU Project.
Respecting the former means joining them in disrespecting us.
-----
and...
-----

  > > What about "Arch (the GNU/Linux distribution)"?

It avoids endorsing the error, so it is ok.
----

---

So #5 would have to look like this:

5.  **Parabola and Arch (the GNU/Linux distribution)**: Parabola will produce an operating
    system that is a Free version of the GNU/Linux system "[Arch](http://www.archlinux.org/)" and possibly other
    Arch-based systems. We will provide repositories and installation
    media without any non-Free software. All Parabola operating systems
    will be backward compatible with the system they are based on, as to
    help liberate already working installations. We will respect the
    design philosophies of the systems ours are based on, to reduce
    friction from both developer and user viewpoints.

---

I also agree with part of a previous e-mail you sent concerning free software... let's not "waste a lot of precious time fighting among ourselves." We need to get the server migrated and prepare for FISL17 instead.

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