The Dynamic of Debian

I've been a Debian Developer for some time now, and for the most part, I
find the experience rewarding. For those of you not familiar with
Debian[1], it is an operating system based on the Linux[2] kernel and the
GNU[3] software suite. It's main purpose is to provide 100% Free
Software to everyone. To ensure this mantra, the founders of Debian
wrote up two documents that summarize their philosophical beliefs about
the project: the Debian Free Software Guideline (DFSG) and the Debian
Social Contract. They're interesting reading, to be certain, but
they're a constant source of controversy.

With any philosophical belief system a political structure evolves
around it. I am not a political scientist, so I will not be able to
break this down into appropriate terminology, such as right or left
wing, but I will do the best I can. Once side of any debate will always
include people who must follow the DFSG and Social Contract to the
letter, that non-free content has no place in the Debian distribution.
The other side will include people who believe that although the two
founding documents are useful as guidelines, they shouldn't dictate what
the developers and users are provided, given that the compilation and
distribution of content is allowed by their respective licenses.

For example, I recently participated in an ongoing debate about whether
or not the IETF[4] RFC[5] documents belonged in Debian or not. An RFC
document is often the combined work of Software Engineers and Developers
to create new Internet protocols or improve on old ones. The
documentation is shipped with an "All Rights Reserved" copyright, the
purpose of which is described in yet another RFC, 2026 [6].

The IETF copyright statement closely reflects the submission and
revision process that they have established and documented in RFC 2026,
which is to say that to revise an existing RFC, you create a new
document and indicate in the beginning of the document which RFC that it
obsoletes. You then submit the new RFC for approval by an appointed
board before it becomes official.

Now, this licensing scheme does not technically fall under the "Free"
clause of the DFSG, but the license does not prohibit free distribution
of the documents. Given that RFC's are technically free Internet
Protocol Standards, documents that SHOULD have some sort of controlled
revision process, it is not an unreasonable license. The documentation
is valuable to the developer, and it should be disseminated as widely as
possible.

So, should Debian package the RFC's. My opinion is an emphatic, "Yes."
Just because the RFC's have a somewhat restrictive license, I do not
think that it's unreasonable with respect to what the IETF is trying to
accomplish, free Internet Standards Publishing. They're trying to build
the Internet! They place no restrictions on who can be a member of the
IETF and encourage people to participate in the process. It is a model
of open engineering that still holds proposed protocols to a rigorous
approval process, ensuring their quality. This is why RFC's shouldn't
be modified outside the process that the IETF has set up. If you're a
serious developer who's not afraid to defend your design, then step up
to the plate and submit your RFC.

Regardless, I doubt that the RFC's will find their way into Debian any
time soon. Pedantic interpretation of the DFSG and Social Contract will
exclude any restrively licensed content from being in Debian "main" or
"contrib". Someone may step up and place a set of packages in
"non-free", but even that will receive bitter opposition.

I haven't even started to discuss the controversy around "non-free" yet.
If you're interested, open up Google Groups and take a look at the
mailing list debates over what do do with the "non-free" archive.

Anyway, the original reason I started writing this was to explore my own
feelings about my participation in Debian. Should I stay with an
organization who's inflexible pursuit of distributing a Free Operating
System. My answer to this as well is "Yes." In a group of people where
reason is often defined by emotion and religious devotion, you need
people with a more logical, centrist view of things. I believe I fall
under that category, and without my voice in debates, the system looses
that dimension of the debate. As in any political system, it pays to
participate.

Chad

FOOTNOTES

1. Debian: http://www.debian.org 2. Linux: http://www.kernel.org 3. GNU:
http://www.gnu.org 4. Internet Engineering Task Force:
http://www.ietf.org 5. Request for Comment: http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html
6. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2026.txt