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Debian makes slight modifications all the time to packages. It patches bugs and removes non-free components, for example. These count as "modifications" but the

Debian makes slight modifications all the time to packages. It patches bugs and removes non-free components, for example. These count as "modifications" but they're usually trivial enough that people don't consider them "forks". In the past, Mozilla's defense of similar trademark guidelines for Firefox resulted in a weird revoking of the "Firefox" trademark for Debian, so Debian rebranded Firefox to "Iceweasel" for a while. But then, what I think happened (I'm guessing here) is that the browser got so big and complicated that Debian ran out of geekpower to patch it, so just redistributed whatever Mozilla did verbatim. Mozilla then re-granted Debian the right to use the Firefox trademark. If Debian starts distributing Rust with bugfixes, I wonder if Mozilla is going to tell them again to change the name.

barrkel 7y ago
I'd prefer if Debian-packaged stuff came with fewer modifications to stock where possible; I think they're a little bit too eager to poke at things. I'm thinking of some auto-maintenance stuff for MySQL, and a Debian change to atop which made it log to /var/run (an in-memory file system) - see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/atop/+bug/1393175 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/atop/+bug/1393175 .
- jordigh 7y ago
  I like Debian's changes. I don't like it when some software thinks it should be putting runtime data in /etc or configuration in /var. Or when an executable doesn't have a manpage, not even a brief one. Debian has a Policy that describes how packages should behave, and I appreciate the consistency it enforces.
  - barrkel 7y ago
    The atop changes are a showstopper, they caused an outage.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ChrisSD 7y ago
No need to guess about Firefox/Debian, the bug report is preserved here: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=815006 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=815006 As noted by steveklabnik, Debian already does ship Rust with their own patches without issue.
- jordigh 7y ago
  I don't find that very descriptive. I still don't understand why Mozilla changed its mind about how much the Debian patches changed. I think it's just about changing of the guard at Mozilla or something. I guess we'll have to hope someone at Mozilla doesn't get picky again and decide to enforce their trademark policy, which I think says Debian is in violation of, but being tolerated.
  - Argorak 7y ago
    The main license problem that Debian had was the _license of the logo_. This flaw is remedied. (and Rust hasn't made that mistake) There was no change of guard, just a very long discussion on how you can make some of the stars align: Mozillas interest that things shipped as "Firefox" are something they can vouch for and Debians interest to use them as free software.
    - jordigh 7y ago
      If the problem was the logo, why change the name?
      - Macha 7y ago
        Debian felt they couldn't ship the logo because of its licensing restrictions. Mozilla felt changing the logo fell outside their trademark guidelines to still call it Firefox.

barrkel 7y ago

I'd prefer if Debian-packaged stuff came with fewer modifications to stock where possible; I think they're a little bit too eager to poke at things. I'm thinking of some auto-maintenance stuff for MySQL, and a Debian change to atop which made it log to /var/run (an in-memory file system) - see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/atop/+bug/1393175 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/atop/+bug/1393175 .

jordigh 7y ago
I like Debian's changes. I don't like it when some software thinks it should be putting runtime data in /etc or configuration in /var. Or when an executable doesn't have a manpage, not even a brief one. Debian has a Policy that describes how packages should behave, and I appreciate the consistency it enforces.
- barrkel 7y ago
  The atop changes are a showstopper, they caused an outage.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

ChrisSD 7y ago

No need to guess about Firefox/Debian, the bug report is preserved here: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=815006 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=815006 As noted by steveklabnik, Debian already does ship Rust with their own patches without issue.

jordigh 7y ago
I don't find that very descriptive. I still don't understand why Mozilla changed its mind about how much the Debian patches changed. I think it's just about changing of the guard at Mozilla or something. I guess we'll have to hope someone at Mozilla doesn't get picky again and decide to enforce their trademark policy, which I think says Debian is in violation of, but being tolerated.
- Argorak 7y ago
  The main license problem that Debian had was the _license of the logo_. This flaw is remedied. (and Rust hasn't made that mistake) There was no change of guard, just a very long discussion on how you can make some of the stars align: Mozillas interest that things shipped as "Firefox" are something they can vouch for and Debians interest to use them as free software.
  - jordigh 7y ago
    If the problem was the logo, why change the name?
    - Macha 7y ago
      Debian felt they couldn't ship the logo because of its licensing restrictions. Mozilla felt changing the logo fell outside their trademark guidelines to still call it Firefox.