Debian-Project - Release Goals for Version 2.1

No pure GPL'ed packages in contrib

This has been proposed by Raul Miller.

We shouldn't accept into contrib any GPLed code which is linked with code which doesn't meet GPL's criteria for distribution.

Unfortunately, everything in slink's contrib/x11 right now has this problem. I think these should be moved aside into some holding area until this problem can be resolved.

I know there's some people who think I'm being silly about this. But there's just too many problems, both potential and current, with our past approach.

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Marcus Brinkmann adds

Motif is only allowed where it comes shipped with the OS, and you can't prevent this. This is not true on Linux, for example.

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Greg Stark says:

You can only combine it with components for which you have the right to distribute the source under the GPL without adding extra restrictions over the GPL. So it's perfectly ok to include public domain or X11-style licensed code for example.

Most DFSG free (ie "Open Source") license will likely qualify but not all. While the the GPL is conservative and prohibits "any" restrictions, the DFSG is liberal and prohibits only specific types of restrictions. So for example the MPL and the BSD licenses which impose restrictions that don't violate the DFSG would still conflict with the GPL. (The BSD advertising clause is actually a point of contention. I believe some claim it's unenforceable and this somehow makes it compatible.)