Debian Free Software Guidelines

The Debian Free Software Guidelines ( Debian Free Software Guidelines, short DFSG ) were prepared by the Debian project to determine whether a software license is "free". The Open Source Definition is based on the DFSG and is content and formally almost identical. Furthermore, there are strong substantive similarities to Free Software Definition of the GNU Project.

Requirements

The DFSG has the following requirements:

All criteria are, among others, by the GPL, the ( 2 - or 3 satisfies clause ) BSD and the Artistic license.

Concept of freedom

The concept of freedom of the Debian project, as it is explained in the DFSG, more or less coincides with the concepts of freedom of the Open Source Initiative ( OSI) and the Free Software Foundation. However, Debian, however, is not in the strict interpretation of licenses, so some licenses ( for example, the Common Development and Distribution License ) are regarded by OSI as being free of Debian.

Debian Legal

The DFSG are only guidelines and not a legal text. The design of the DFSG, and therefore the decision as to whether a license DFSG- free or not, is up to the mailing list debian- legal. Some considerations from this list:

  • The promise of an author to tolerate copyright infringement, a proper license can not replace. A subsequent assignee would indeed not bound by this promise ( " Tentacles of Evil " test).
  • The license may not require that the licensee notifies changes or similar to the licensor. A user with solar-powered notebook on a desert island could not meet this condition ( "Desert Iceland " test).
  • Formulated sharpener, the license must require no contact, as this politically persecuted would be disadvantaged ( " Dissident " test).

Impact on the Debian distribution

In the Debian distribution only software is added which meets these requirements. The authoritative interpretation of the DFSG as already mentioned is carried out by the debian-legal mailing list subscribers. The Debian ftpmaster make the final decision whether a software package is included. In controversial licenses but they usually depend on the debian- legal mailing list.

There is also a non- free area (called " non-free " ) on the Debian servers, which is indeed maintained by the Debian project, but not part of the distribution. In this area, land plants, to their distribution Debian does have permission, but do not meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines. This is explained by the fact that there was no free graphical browser for the time when the said guidelines emerged. Since that time there have been efforts to abolish this area; particularly urged the GNU Project to it.

After a change of the Debian Social Contract, these policies are applied in the future not only to computer programs, but to all content. This non-free firmware, images and documentation in the non- free area must be moved since the release of " Sarge". The point documentation poses a particular problem: Whether the GNU Free Documentation License DFSG met is debatable. In a vote was finally decided that as long as it has no non-modifiable sections, is considered by Debian as free. For some GNU documentation of Debian are considered unfree and sold either in the non-free area (including the documentation of tar) or not at all.

History

The DFSG preceded by the Free Software Definition of the Free Software Foundation. The DFSG were written by Bruce Perens, the former project manager of Debian and other Debian developers. They were first published in July 1997 together with the first version of the Debian Social Contract. On the DFSG a little later the following definition of open source, the. Open Source Definition of the Open Source Initiative ( OSI) is based

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