[Nix-dev] Packaging free software that costs money

[zimbatm]

One approach that I didn't get discussed is: we could provide a wrapper
framework for paid applications.

Installing the app is as usual but the first time you run we would execute
a script that asks for a donation. The script would check in a known place
(like `~/.config/licenses/<app-name>`) if a license exists, if not the
script would print a little advertisement with a link to the site, provide
a payment framework and then install the license. The script could easily
be made compatible with command-line and X11 using `dialog` I think.

I'm not saying this is what we should do but the nice thing about that
approach is that nagware would be unified. Each app wouldn't have to
implement their own anymore.

On Thu, 7 Jul 2016 at 17:32 Kevin Cox <kevincox at kevincox.ca> wrote:

> On 07/07/16 12:25, Vladimír Čunát wrote:
> >
> > As mentioned, paying for freely-licensed SW (as accepted by FSF or OSI)
> > is always possible but can *never* be forced (legally), so I don't think
> > we should make it *appear* as obligatory.
> >
>
> Yes, I think this is the right route. We can definitely start by
> defining a way to link specifically to "support" pages.
>
> I think that looking into ways to make it a little more obvious in the
> future might also be a good idea, such as display a message when
> installed or providing a command that lists all packages you have
> installed that request monetary support.
>
> Let's face it, most open source projects could use with more funding,
> and if we can help I think that is great. Of course we shouldn't make
> our "help" too obtrusive for the user, finding the "right" balance is
> always a struggle but I think that slowly working towards it is a good
> idea.
>
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