[Nix-dev] Packaging free software that costs money

[Bjørn Forsman]

On 6 July 2016 at 14:19, Profpatsch <mail at profpatsch.de> wrote:
> On 16-07-06 11:58am, zimbatm wrote:
>> We can provide the derivation but ask the user to download the source
>> themselves. I think we already have such a mechanism in place for non-free
>> software.
>
> But that’s not necessary at all. The source is available openly
> and we can also have hydra build the binaries.
>
> Nothing is different from a libre/free software, except there is
> some kind of price tag attached (that is oftentimes pay what you want).
>
> Hm, maybe it’s time to respect the money aspect:
>
> meta = {
>   monetary = {
>     type = "donation" | "mandatory";
>     amount = "10 USD";
>     recur = "monthly";
>     url = "https://project.com/buy";
>   };
> };
>
> $ nix-build -A ardour
> error: ardour is free as in freedom (GPL-2), but not free as in beer.
> The authors require a monthly payment of 10 USD to use their software.
> Please visit https://ardour.org/download.html.
> Once you supported the project, use `lib.isPaid` to install it.
>
> Thoughts?

But that still looks like opt-in payment. I'm sure Ardour users
already know that upstream wants money for it, even without the above
mechanism. (But I guess if a lot of upstreams do this it'd be more
difficult to track manually, and we'd need a mechanism.)

If upstream *really require* money, the above method seems
insufficient, IMHO. I'm starting to think about proprietary programs
now, and how you often can get the software but it doesn't work
without a license key. The key can be stored in $HOME and don't have
to have anything to do with the Nix expression that built (or just
downloaded) the software.

- Bjørn