Bug#1135385: serious: gnome-control-center enables donation nag by default, violating Debian Social Contract Clause 4
anonreporter.debian.2026 at nym.hush.com
anonreporter.debian.2026 at nym.hush.com
Fri May 1 23:34:35 BST 2026
Package: gnome-control-center
Version: 1:49.0-1
Severity: serious
Tags: policy-violation
The GNOME donation popup, enabled by default in gnome-control-center,
violates Debian Social Contract Clause 4: "We will be guided by the
needs of our users and free software community. We will place their
interests first."
This feature imposes an external fundraising agenda, justified by the
GNOME Foundation’s “critical financial situation”, without user
consent. It is not a minor annoyance; it is a policy violation that
undermines Debian’s ethical foundation and user trust.
This is directly comparable to Debian Bug #964359, where SMPlayer’s
donation nag was patched out because it threatened Debian’s
reputation by turning the distribution into “shareware hell.” The
same principle applies here.
Maintainer’s prior response to Bug #1120511 (November 11, 2025),
dismissing user concerns and tagging it “wontfix,” constitutes a
prior willful disregard of Debian’s core values.
Any further attempt to downplay, ignore, or reclassify this report,
especially by minimizing its ethical weight, reflects ethical failure.
This is a principled stand. Such actions are hereby documented,
publicized, and held against those responsible. There will be
remaining ambiguity for those who betray Debian’s values for
external agendas. And no...desperate times do NOT call for desperate
measures.
Request: Patch the donation reminder out of the Debian package, as was
done with SMPlayer, or disable it by default with a clear opt-in
mechanism.
If this report is to be hand-waved as the prior one was, then this
needs to be forwarded to the Debian Technical Committee (DTC) for
formal review and overrule according to the Debian Constitution 6.1.4.
Salty...?...a little...this shouldn't have HAD to have been outlined
before maintainer disabled the donation nag in the first place or at
least upon the last report coming in.
Thanks?
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