Re: [gNewSense-users] RFC Firefox Free Software

[Andrew Wigglesworth]

On Tuesday 14 November 2006 22:17, Paul O'Malley wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have had a conversation on email with Richard Stallman about Firefox.
> Distilling it, we get to this:
>
> ----
> The Firefox trademark issue is not important.  At worst it means we have
> to change the name of what we distribute.  The Firefox sources are free
> software, and we can use them.
>
> (The standard Firefox binaries are NOT free software, so we should not
> redistribute them or tell people where to get them.)
>
> But there are some real free software issues about Firefox.  The biggest
> one is that it is set up to offer downloads of non-free plug-ins from
> Mozilla's own site.
> ----
>
> What do we want to do about this?
>
> Regards,
>
> Paul O'Malley
>

A few initial thoughts:

Firefox should be rmoved from an updated gNewSense instalation CD and the new 
CD default to Epiphany.

I think we would have a problem maintaining a separate  (ie gNewSense 
specific) binary at the moment, so we should be looking at ways to support 
and use GNU Iceweasel.  Maybe a script for downloading and setting up the 
binary at:

http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/

This may change in the future with Debian and Ubuntu taking up Iceweasel (or 
their versions of it).

As soon as the updated CD is released, Firefox should be removed from the gNS 
repositories.  A prominent link on the gNS home page should lead to a page 
explaining what is going on.

ends.


------------
Andrew



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