You should check out etckeeper if you aren't already using it. It hooks into apt and rpm. Each time new packages update config files, it commits the new revision with a note as to which packages were installed. Very handy.
"Before RMS spoke about it most of you were for Cloud Computing now you are against it. You're a bunch of sheep."
Exactly what I thought! What sheep, changing their mind after being convinced by a well-reasoned argument from someone with a track record for making good predictions!
"Mozilla's beef is with Debian or anybody else messing around with code or the settings and still trying to palm it off as Mozilla Firefox. People are still free to branch the code and call it anything they like, which is just what Debian has done."
What if the Linux kernel developers did the same thing - the only way you can call it Linux is to distribute an official kernel.org release with no custom patches? KDE? GNOME? vim? emacs? every single application you use? It would really suck to install software, because there would be no name you could use to identify what your distribution was shipping without infringing on someone else's trademark.
Sure, trademark law allows Mozilla to do this, but it's been custom in the free software community *not* to do this for over 25 years.
The GPL even includes a specific provision for Mozilla's worry of "someone will patch it to break it and our reputation will be tarnished" - if you distribute a modified copy, "the work must carry prominent notices stating that you modified it, and giving a relevant date".
Software production is assumed to be a line function, but it is run like a staff function. -- Paul Licker
