Re: Lift "runs on GNU/Linux" requirement

[Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli]

On Fri, 20 Aug 2021 23:23:47 -0400
Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
>   > What about programs that run on Replicant ?
> 
> It is good to have a catalog of free programs that run on Replicant,
> but it's not our job.  What we are doing for GNU/Linux is such a big
> job that we can't keep up.  Let's not spread our effort by taking on
> Replicant as well.
> 
> I suggest that the Replican developers set up a directory for programs
> that run on Replicant.
The Replicant project has a wiki page[1] to enable people that reviewed
(partially or completely) specific Android applications, to write the
result of their review there.

The idea is to be able to point people to applications that don't have
any nonfree dependencies either in the build process or in the
application binary or source code.

To do that the idea is to make sure that:
- The applications can be built on an FSDG distribution without any
  nonfree software.
- All the dependencies of the application are built from source during
  the application building process, and the application doesn't use any
  binary.
- All the licenses are free software.

Once applications have been reviewed, I think it would be a good idea
to put them in a database like the free software directory as it would
make that information a lot more useful.

Wikidata can also have information about applications, and it doesn't
require Replicant to setup a server for that, but right now the free
software directory seems to be more suited to free software
applications as it has many fields that are most probably lacking in
Wikidata, and even a text form for adding precision about the license.

If on Replicant side, at least one review is completed, I think that we
could find people to add the applications we reviewed in a database on
behalf of Replicant as most of the work is in the review process anyway.

To review an application we really have to build the software, check
its source code, and so on. Compared to all that work, the time to
contribute the information in some upstream project is probably
negligible (minutes vs hours).

However the time spent to maintain the information inside the database
project is probably not negligible, especially if several applications
are added and that there are frequent releases.

And here I don't know what the policy for that is in the free software
directory nor if we could find volunteers to do that.

References:
-----------
[1]https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/F-DroidAndApplications

Denis.

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