NAME¶
vrms - report of installed non-free software
SYNOPSIS¶
vrms [
OPTION] ...
DESCRIPTION¶
This program began as an attempt to create a "virtual Richard M.
Stallman" for Debian GNU/Linux. Thus the choice of name.
This program analyzes the currently-installed package list on a Debian GNU/Linux
system, and reports the non-free and contrib packages that are currently
installed to stdout. In some cases, such as regarding documentation licensed
under the GNU Free Documentation License with invariant sections, the opinions
of Richard M. Stallman and the Debian project have diverged since this program
was originally written. In such cases, this program follows the definition of
freedom embodied in the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
The packages in the non-free tree have restrictions on their use and/or
distribution which cause them to fail to meet the terms of the Debian Free
Software Guidelines included as part of the Debian Social Contract. However,
some are sufficiently useful that their presence is often tolerated by Debian
users despite their licensing.
The packages in the contrib tree are themselves free software but have some
dependency on non-free software for their use that make them worthy of
reporting so that their use can also be consciously considered.
Richard is the most vocal among us on the issue of software morality, and we
agree with Richard that Debian users should have an easy way to know when they
are running non-free software on their systems. This program is our attempt to
fill that need.
OPTIONS¶
All options can be prefixed with -- (eg:
--noexplain) to turn them off.
- -q, --quiet
- Do nothing if there are no non-free packages
installed.
- -e, --explain
- Give a brief explanation of why each package is non-free,
if available. This is the default.
- -s, --sparse
- Just output a list of non-free packages.
- --reason-dir=DIR
- Use DIR as the reason directory, instead of
/usr/share/vrms/reasons/.
- -h, --help
- Display help.
- -d, --debug
- Generate debugging information.
FILES¶
- /usr/share/vrms/reasons
- Default source of explanations for why packages are
non-free.
HISTORY¶
This program was written by Bdale Garbee and Bill Geddes for the Debian
GNU/Linux system, in response to an open discussion with Richard Stallman
about the issues surrounding the availability/desirability of the 'non-free'
package tree in Debian.