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Version 1.0 ratified on July 5, 1997. Superseded by Version 1.1,
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ratified on April 26, 2004.
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Debian, the producers of the Debian GNU/Linux system, have created the
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Debian Social Contract. The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) part
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of the contract, initially designed as a set of commitments that we
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agree to abide by, has been adopted by the free software community as
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the basis of the Open Source Definition.
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__________________________________________________________________
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"Social Contract" with the Free Software Community
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1. Debian Will Remain 100% Free Software
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We promise to keep the Debian GNU/Linux Distribution entirely free
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software. As there are many definitions of free software, we
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include the guidelines we use to determine if software is "free"
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below. We will support our users who develop and run non-free
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software on Debian, but we will never make the system depend on an
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item of non-free software.
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2. We Will Give Back to the Free Software Community
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When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license
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them as free software. We will make the best system we can, so that
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free software will be widely distributed and used. We will feed
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back bug-fixes, improvements, user requests, etc. to the "upstream"
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authors of software included in our system.
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3. We Won't Hide Problems
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We will keep our entire bug-report database open for public view at
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all times. Reports that users file on-line will immediately become
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4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software
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We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free-software
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community. We will place their interests first in our priorities.
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We will support the needs of our users for operation in many
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different kinds of computing environment. We won't object to
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commercial software that is intended to run on Debian systems, and
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we'll allow others to create value-added distributions containing
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both Debian and commercial software, without any fee from us. To
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support these goals, we will provide an integrated system of
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high-quality, 100% free software, with no legal restrictions that
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would prevent these kinds of use.
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5. Programs That Don't Meet Our Free-Software Standards
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We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of programs
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that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have
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created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our FTP archive for this
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software. The software in these directories is not part of the
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Debian system, although it has been configured for use with Debian.
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We encourage CD manufacturers to read the licenses of software
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packages in these directories and determine if they can distribute
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that software on their CDs. Thus, although non-free software isn't
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a part of Debian, we support its use, and we provide infrastructure
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(such as our bug-tracking system and mailing lists) for non-free
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__________________________________________________________________
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The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)
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1. Free Redistribution
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The license of a Debian component may not restrict any party from
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selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate
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software distribution containing programs from several different
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sources. The license may not require a royalty or other fee for
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The program must include source code, and must allow distribution
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in source code as well as compiled form.
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The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must
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allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of
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the original software.
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4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
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The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in
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modified form _only_ if the license allows the distribution of
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"patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the
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program at build time. The license must explicitly permit
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distribution of software built from modified source code. The
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license may require derived works to carry a different name or
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version number from the original software. (This is a compromise.
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The Debian group encourages all authors not to restrict any files,
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source or binary, from being modified.)
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5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
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The license must not discriminate against any person or group of
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6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
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The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program
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in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict
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the program from being used in a business, or from being used for
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7. Distribution of License
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The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the
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program is redistributed without the need for execution of an
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additional license by those parties.
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8. License Must Not Be Specific to Debian
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The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's
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being part of a Debian system. If the program is extracted from
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Debian and used or distributed without Debian but otherwise within
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the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program
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is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are
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granted in conjunction with the Debian system.
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9. License Must Not Contaminate Other Software
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The license must not place restrictions on other software that is
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distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the
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license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the
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same medium must be free software.
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The "GPL", "BSD", and "Artistic" licenses are examples of licenses
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that we consider "free".
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The concept of stating our "social contract with the free software
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community" was suggested by Ean Schuessler. This document was drafted
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by Bruce Perens, refined by the other Debian developers during a
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month-long e-mail conference in June 1997, and then accepted as the
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publicly stated policy of the Debian Project.
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Bruce Perens later removed the Debian-specific references from the
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Debian Free Software Guidelines to create "The Open Source Definition".
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Other organizations may derive from and build on this document. Please
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give credit to the Debian project if you do.
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includes/lenny/common/doc/social-contract.txt
