[Nix-dev] Packaging free software that costs money

[Bjørn Forsman]

On 6 July 2016 at 12:27, Profpatsch <mail at profpatsch.de> wrote:
> Free software doesn’t mean it is free as in free beer.
>
> There are a couple of (very good) applications, that are
> sold, like for example Ardour or Radium.
> They are normally distributed as binaries, but come with
> the source code (as required by their license).
>
> I think nixpkgs should include them as well (if only because
> executing the pre-built binaries on nixos is impossible),
> but I also think it is ethically questionable to skip the
> buying process.
>
> I’m at a loss.

One improvement we can do is making it easier to run pre-built
binaries. Right now you have to create a Nix file with
pkgs.buildFHSUserEnv and pass in a lot of data[1].

What if we write a script that creates an FHS environment from all
profiles (system, default, user)? "nix-run-impure myprog"? It would
(almost) be as easy to run prebuilt programs on NixOS as any other
distro. The result would be a mix of nix-shell, steam-run and
buildFHSUserEnv.

Thoughts?

[1] https://nixos.org/wiki/FHS_environments

Best regards,
Bjørn Forsman