[Nix-dev] Separating free and non-free packages, again

[Nicolas Pierron]

Hi,

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 18:53, Eelco Dolstra <e.dolstra at tudelft.nl> wrote:
> Nicolas Pierron wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 14:20, Eelco Dolstra <e.dolstra at tudelft.nl> wrote:
>>> A while back we had a discussion about separating free and non-free packages in
>>> Nixpkgs.  The main motivation is that it allows people to make completely free
>>> Nixpkgs / NixOS installations.  For instance, last week at the GNU Hackers
>>> Meeting we discussed doing continuous integration builds of the various GNU
>>> packages.  Obviously, you don't want an accidental dependency on a non-free
>>> package in such builds.
>>>
>>> After talking with Ludovic at the GHM, we came up with the following plan:
>>>
>>> - Create a directory pkgs/non-free.
>>
>> This information seems to be redundant because the license should give
>> you such information.  Such separation is similar as duplicating the
>> license terms, first in the Nix expression, second in the directory.
>
> Yes.  However:
>
> - Currently most (free) packages lack a meta.license attribute.
>
> - We don't actually have a tool to check a dependency graph's meta.license
> attributes yet.
>
> So it seems a lot simpler, especially in the short term, to move the few
> non-free packages to a separate directory.

So you just want a tool to retrieve meta.licence attributes for a
specified derivation. Don't mind If I give it a try?

-- 
Nicolas Pierron
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasbpierron - http://nbp.name/
Andrew S. Tanenbaum - Never underestimate the bandwith of a wagon full of tapes.