Notes on non-free packages in Debian Edu
We prefer packages licensed according to the DFSG, but some times there are no alternative to providing non-free packages in Debian Edu.
List of non-free packages on the DVD is available at the end of the needs love page for Lenny.
Evaluated packages, OK to include
etoys etoys-doc
For etoys and etoys-doc José RodrÃguez report there's no legal problem. The packages have free licenses, but are kept in Debian non-free because it's impossible (up to now) bootstrap them from sources, due to the special way smalltalk images work (it's like trying to bootstrap from sources a free jpeg image).
Evaluated packages, not OK to include
sun-java5-bin sun-java5-jre sun-java5-plugin
The packages would be nice to have to get a working java browser plugin, but the installation require interactive acceptance of the non-free license. We avoid the package to avoid having to present the question to the admins when they install Debian Edu.
Packages yet to evaluate
eagle eagle-data
firmware-bnx2
firmware-bnx2x
firmware-ipw2x00
firmware-iwlwifi
firmware-qlogic
firmware-ralink
libjogl-java libjogl-jni