[Foo2zjs-maintainer] Bug#449497: foo2zjs: application depends on non-free firmware

[Luca Capello]

Hi there!

BTW, Joost, it seems that for the BugSprint [1] you got quite a nasty
     bug, sorry :-D

On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:08:03 +0100, Steffen Joeris wrote:
> severity 449497 important

Thanks to Steffen for the downgrade.  To everyone else: please don't
change the severity anymore: while it can be less than important [2],
it's *anyway* not more than that.

> On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:40:34 pm Joost Yervante Damad wrote:
>> Hi Luca,
>>
>> > [3] not that I checked with such printers, I'm only in touch with one
>> >     that needs a non-free firmware
>> >       http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=466758#15
>>
>> So you don't think that your usage of the package is more "contrib"
>> then "main"?

No, foo2zjs as it's *in* Debian [3] is OK for main.

>> Personally I find it a rather "grey" unclear situation. It seems the
>> package can be used without any external files, yet in practice, for a lot
>> of people it is only usable with external files..

It doesn't matter how many people needs external files to fully use
foo2zjs: if only one person can use it without, then everything which is
completely DFSG-free *must* be in main.

>> Since the package is currently lives in main, I personally can live with
>> how it is currently... the bug submitter seems to think differently
>> though...
>>
>> Bottom line is, that dependant on the hardware ,the package as it lives in
>> main is usable or NOT.

This is another point, exactly like the firmware issues in the kernel:
the Intel iwl3945 driver is not usable on my ThinkPad X60 [4] without
the non-free firmware, yet the correct place for the driver is main.

>> Maybe we should mark the bug lenny-ignore ;)
>
> I guess it would be up to the release team to set this tag.

I added the d-release mailing list to the cc:.

> Anyway, I am still not convinced that it is RC. The package works fine
> for certain printers without any firmware. However, some need it,
> which is clearly stated in the README.Debian file. Furthermore, we are
> offering a GUI program and the upstream script to download the
> firmware for the user's convenience. IMHO this does not justify the
> move to contrib or non-free.

Fully ACK.

> Now I am lowering the severity of the bug to "important" (althought
> I'd rather see it as wishlist).

Fully ACK also for the latter.

> If people still disagree, please bring it to the attention of the
> technical committee, which can overrule my decision at any time.

With my just-got foo2zjs maintainer hat on, in that case the technical
committee should overrule the decision of two maintainers.  Let's see
what the Release Managers say.

Thx, bye,
Gismo / Luca

Footnotes: 
[1] http://wiki.debian.org/BugSprint
[2] "important: a bug which has a major effect on the usability of a
    package, without rendering it completely unusable to everyone"; this
    is exactly the current situation for foo2zjs
[3] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?archive=yes&bug=449497#63
[4] http://luca.pca.it/projects/ibm/x60_1706-gmg/
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