Third party repos

[Josh Boyer]

On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 8:56 AM, Paul W. Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
> I wanted to resurface the third party repository topic before we get
> to next week's meeting.  Currently we have the following page drafted
> that discusses the new disabled repo feature currently in Fedora 22
> Workstation:
>
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Workstation/3rdPartyApps
>
> Currently there's a policy from the Council (nee Board) on third party
> repos here:
>
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Third_Party_Repository_Policy

Actually, that policy was written by FESCo.  As noted on the bottom of
the page, it's a FESCo policy which means changes likely need to go
through them.

> This policy doesn't address one of the problems I believe we're trying
> to solve in software -- making developer access to non-libre (but
> legally OK) tools on Fedora less convoluted and burdensome.
>
> So there's not just the question of implementation and curation, but
> also getting a policy change approved by the Council.

For clarification the Board did review the FESCo policy at this meeting:

http://meetbot.fedoraproject.org/fedora-meeting-1/2014-01-23/fedora_board.2014-01-23-19.01.html

The two key points here are:

"The board believes that shipping repository metadata that points at
non-free software is incompatible with Fedora's foundations"

and

"The board believes that reducing technical barriers to explicit user
choice to install third-party software (non-free or otherwise) is
compatible with Fedora's foundations."

The latter statement led to some of the disabled repo work that
Richard did, IIRC.  It leaves a lot open to interpretation.

josh