[Nix-dev] Packaging free software that costs money

[Mateusz Czaplinski]

On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Bjørn Forsman <bjorn.forsman at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6 July 2016 at 14:19, Profpatsch <mail at profpatsch.de> wrote:
>> $ 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.
>
> 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.

Not necessarily. If I browsed through nixpkgs and found some package
with an interesting-looking description or path
(window-managers/foobar? editors/xyzzy?), I could install it out of
curiosity/for testing, and then I'd have no idea that it is a "please
pay". For me, a "honor system" here makes much sense. Similar with
e.g. http://www.aseprite.org/download/.

Also, a possibly interesting question is if something smart could be
done for itch.io games, many of which are fully "payment optional",
but still "payment heartily encouraged" (i.e. they're free to
download, but a payment is encouraged in a way which is very well
thought through and unobtrusive in my opinion).

/M.