[Fsf-Debian] Clarifying Debian Policy

[Clint Adams]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 09:31:57AM -0700, Jason Self wrote:
> I'm hoping that someone could clarify Debian policy for me?
> 
> I see that section 2.2.1 of Debian policy [1] indicates that a package in main
> must not recommend a package outside of main. Does this only apply to the
> package's control file and not to anything that the program displays while running?
> 
> Also, does this policy only apply to the fields specifically mentioned in
> section 2.2.1 ("Pre-Depends", "Depends", "Recommends", "Build-Depends", or
> "Build-Depends-Indep") or to all fields in the control file, including things
> like "Suggests"?

If I remember my history, this proscription amounts to the idea that
a user, for ideological reasons, may select "main" and omit "contrib"
and "non-free" from sources, and should be able to install packages
successfully and have them be largely functional.  So I would read
it narrowly.

There have been squabbles on various occasions over whether a
free software program for which there is no known free data
(for example free games for an interactive fiction engine)
belongs in "main" or "contrib".

However, I do not recall any such controversy regarding any programs
themselves espousing opinions about what a user should or should not
install.