[Feature]: Split nonfree distribution templates into separate package

[davidhedlund]

Feature description

Description:

proot-distro currently ships templates for nonfree distributions alongside templates for free distributions. This makes the package unsuitable for inclusion in strictly free repositories, since it effectively depends on and facilitates the use of nonfree systems.

In free distributions, packages that depend on nonfree data are typically excluded. A common example is games whose engines are free but whose required data files are nonfree.

Proposal:

• Keep proot-distro limited to templates for fully free distributions, for example trisquel.
• Move templates for nonfree distributions into a separate package, for example proot-distro-nonfree, and have that package included only in a nonfree repository.

This split would allow free repositories to ship proot-distro without including nonfree components, while still giving users a clear, explicit opt-in path if they want to install nonfree distribution templates.

[agnostic-apollo]

Whether nonfree templates are even added to proot-distro package can also be controlled with a build flag instead of two separate packages. If a termux fork doesn't not want to include those templates in their build, they can enable the flag.

[sylirre]

Users have a choice what to install: trisquel, ubuntu - select what you want.

Now you propose me to remove the choice and make obtaining "non-free" distributions as hard as possible. This is a literal activism. What's next, moving to FSF-approved hosting (for git repo, web)?

[sylirre]

Just noting that changes like this won't be appreciated by large part of community. It is a very serious change.

It's not like moving few non-free Termux packages to a separate repo.

[davidhedlund]

Users have a choice what to install: trisquel, ubuntu - select what you want.

Now you propose me to remove the choice and make obtaining "non-free" distributions as hard as possible. This is a literal activism. What's next, moving to FSF-approved hosting (for git repo, web)?

I need to consult a free software expert to confirm the validity of this issue. Please allow me a few weeks.

I greatly admire your contributions and recognize that my submitted issues may place significant demands on your time.

Best

[sylirre]

May suggest 2 variants:

1. proot-distro-libre package, which doesn't provide non-free distributions.
2. Post-installation dialog prompting users if they want all distributions or FSF-approved only, with all as default selection.

That's a compromise solution that allows libre configuration without enforcing everyone to use it as default.

---

This case applicable to Docker or LXC, which also present in Termux repository (root-repo). They contact a registry that has all kinds of stuff, including non-free. But they are just containerization tools, they don't enforce user to download only specific kinds of images.

Proot-distro is similar, just stores all metadata about distributions offline. There is no way that stuff will get downloaded, extracted and executed without explicit command from user.

[robertkirkman]

This case applicable to Docker or LXC

That's a very good point, actually I didn't think of that at all before you mentioned it.

While I observed earlier that the FSF-approved distro Trisquel doesn't provide a python3-pip package, it actually does provide a docker.io package, and I have just now tested and confirmed that this series of commands in Trisquel results in the installation and running of a non-FSF-approved guest distro, in a very similar way to how proot-distro allows the installation and running of non-FSF-approved guest distros.

sudo apt install docker.io
sudo docker run -it debian

Should this behavior of Trisquel be considered an unfortunate oversight or one-time exception that should be avoided, should be corrected in Trisquel in the future, and should not be taken as an example for other situations, or it is an example of an acceptable practice?

I need to consult a free software expert to confirm the validity of this issue. Please allow me a few weeks.

Thanks for checking. This situation is complex, and I will be interested in the results of the analysis.