Cem Kayali <cemkayali%eticaret.com.tr@localhost> writes:
[dropping netbsd-users because this is solely a pkgsrc issue]
I'm aware of that, NetBSD pkgsrc installation scripts requires
acceptable_license variable in mk.conf or command line if there are
license restrictions. Almost all of closed-source / binary softwares
have license restrictions, and requires user to accept license (ie;
www/opera), as clue, but 'i assume' there are some without license
restrictions but without source code - distributed in binary format
only.
Closed-source is not to me a precise term, so I'll avoid it, but in the
case of a program available only as a binary, to not have a license tag
the binary would have to be available under an open source or free
license, including the right to make and distribute derivative works.
That would have to be a BSD type license, since binary-only doesn't fit
with GPL. I have not yet come across such a program.
The pkgsrc license framework is intended to enable people to understand
the licensing of software they build, and to enable them to avoid
building software with non-free licenses without having instructed
pkgsrc to do so. It is not intended, so far, to avoid building packages
without source code.
It seems like unneeded complexity to add a tag for upstream distfiles
with binary only, because almost every such package has a non-Free
license anyway. There are packages with free licenses available as
binaries, and most of those are named -bin (e.g., firefox, openoffice).
Joerg already answered about eggs.
I would like to know, whether there is/could be a tag for
closed-source / binary softwares. As far as i know, there is no such
tag. Also i noticed that NetBSD pkgsrc page says 'It (pkgsrc
collection) is used to enable freely available software to be
configured...' using the word 'freely' which means free to use and
open-source (with source code). A non-free software should be tagged i
In that sentence, freely available does not mean Free. We should
probably fix it. It means "stuff you can get somehow".
Forgive me if this issue is out-of pkgsrc concept and principals... I
searched through FreeBSD ports documentation and they do tag only
license and distribution restrictions.
No problem; it's a fair question.