Talk:Gnuzilla

From Free Software Directory
Jump to: navigation, search

Warning about outdated binary releases

As I understand reviewing the source code to make sure everything is 100% free software and reviewing the dependencies to also make sure that they also are 100% free software is required when adding software in the Free Software Directory.

But as far as I understand, the Free software directory isn't concerned about binary releases at all. So for instance if VLC has a nonfree release through Apple's appstore, or if a free software project also makes a release for Windows and that they include nonfree libraries like libc or compiler specific system libraries just to make the program start, then as I understand the Free software directory isn't concerned with that.

Here the warning could mislead users into thinking that the Free software directory cares about binary releases (maybe it does in some way and I'm the one who misunderstood though).

Removing the warning is not a good idea though, as users could be mislead into thinking that there are no new source releases because they saw that the binary release is old.

So what I propose here would be to:

(1) Clarify the limits of the Free software directory (like add a link to a page about that on the main page, or add infos about its limits in an FAQ) and in the limits add the fact that the free software directory isn't concerned about binary releases and that users are advised to use FSDG distributions instead and/or to participate in packaging the software that is listed in the free software directory to these distributions. In addition we could also add that we don't do security audits of source code and so on. Again here the distributions are supposed to not ship vulnerable software.

(2) Modify the warning to keep the current information (the binary releases are outdated, there are new source releases) and to point that *not only for this software* but for all software in this directory, users are strongly advised to use FSDG distributions.

Here could be an example:

⚠ IceCat stopped binary releases and continues doing source releases.
The last IceCat binary release was version 60.7.0, and is no longer supported, however Guix and Parabola have up to date Icecat binaries. Note that the Free Software Directory doesn't audit binary releases at all, so you should use distributions that respect the Free System Distribution Guidelines to install software. If IceCat isn't packaged in your distribution, you could use Guix on top of your distribution to install it. You could also either ask or help your distribution to packageing IceCat.

GNUtoo (talk) 00:19, 21 October 2022 (EDT)

Unfinished bottom warning

The following warning on the bottom of the page looks like a leftover:

⚠ Attention!
Sample text. 

I'm not sure if it needs to be removed or if it needs the same text again as the one above.

GNUtoo (talk) 00:22, 21 October 2022 (EDT)


Update Firefox-ESR and IceCat differences lists

In the list we have:

The proprietary web chat IRC client Mibbit has been removed.

However, nowadays, to me it looks like Firefox is 100% free software according to Debian Buster copyright review of Firefox, and Mibbit is really nonfree according to Wikipedia.

So if I assume that Debian is right, then this line needs to be removed.

In addition a major difference is that Firefox points to an addon repository that contains nonfree software. This has been fixed in IceCat, Parabola's Icewease-libre, etc.

Here's an example:

  • Firefox points users to an addon repository that contains nonfree addons. This was fixed in IceCat.

I'm not mentioning the precise fix because that could evolve over time. For instance pointing to another addon repository that contains only free software is a fix. Removing the mention of the problematic addon repository (without adding anything instead) is another. Adding a text that tell to use the distribution packages instead is also a way to fix (I think that Parabola did that in some way).

GNUtoo (talk) 00:29, 21 October 2022 (EDT)

Firefox ESR

Firefox is redirected to Gnuzilla but not Firefox_ESR. GNUtoo (talk) 09:22, 21 October 2022 (EDT)



Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the page “GNU Free Documentation License”.

The copyright and license notices on this page only apply to the text on this page. Any software or copyright-licenses or other similar notices described in this text has its own copyright notice and license, which can usually be found in the distribution or license text itself.