CHECK-DFSG-STATUS(1) General Commands Manual CHECK-DFSG-STATUS(1)
NAME
check-dfsg-status - report of installed non-free software
SYNOPSIS
check-dfsg-status [OPTION] ...
DESCRIPTION
This program began as an attempt to create a "virtual Richard M. Stall-
man" 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 docu-
mentation licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License with invari-
ant 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 tol-
erated 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/check-
dfsg-status/reasons/.
-h, --help
Display help.
-d, --debug
Generate debugging information.
FILES
/usr/share/check-dfsg-status/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 Stall-
man about the issues surrounding the availability/desirability of the
'non-free' package tree in Debian. It was originally named 'vrms' but
for the reasons outlined in #962696 it was renamed to 'check-dfsg-sta-
tus'.
A Cute Little Hack CHECK-DFSG-STATUS(1)
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