vrms (virtual

Richard M. Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to u ...

), later renamed to check-dfsg-status, is a

program Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Progra ...

that analyzes the set of currently installed packages on a

Debian Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...

-based system, and reports all of the packages from the non-free tree which are currently installed. Software gets placed in the non-free tree when it is agreed not to be too problematic for Debian to distribute but does not meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines and therefore cannot be included in their official distribution. For each program from "non-free" installed, vrms displays an explanation of why it is non-free if one is available. This explanation is usually from a list included in the vrms package itself, but other packages can provide additional lists of explanations too.

History

vrms was written by

Bdale Garbee Bdale Garbee () is an American computer specialist who works with Linux particularly Debian. He is also an amateur radio hobbyist (''KB0G''), and a member of AMSAT, Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (former vice-president), and the American Radio Relay ...

and Bill Geddes for the Debian GNU/Linux system, in response to an open discussion with

Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...

about the issues surrounding the availability/desirability of the "non-free" package tree in Debian. Yet the package is somewhat controversial because, while it contains Stallman's initials, it still follows Debian's definitions of ''free'' rather than that of the GNU project. The

Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...

lists vrms among packages that do not respect its Free System Distribution Guidelines. In 2005, Rogério Brito, motivated to improve the status of the package status, looked at and fixed some long-outstanding bugs reported in Debian's Bug Tracking System, and, shortly afterward, the project moved to a more distributed and cooperative development with a mailing list being created and with the source code being put in a

Subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...

version control system hosted by Alioth's Debian server. In August 2022, the project was renamed to ''check-dfsg-status'' to reflect the fact that its opinions are based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG).

Example

Output of vrms in a system with

Sun Java Java is a set of computer software and specifications developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation, that provides a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cros ...

, unrar and

VMware Player VMware Workstation Player, formerly VMware Player, is a virtualization software package for x64 computers running Microsoft Windows or Linux, supplied free of charge by VMware, Inc., Archived version; the page as of 2016 is about VMware Workstat ...

installed: Non-free packages installed on localhost sun-java5-bin Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 sun-java5-demo Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 5.0 demos and examp sun-java5-jdk Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 5.0 sun-java5-jre Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 unrar Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version) Reason: Modifications problematic vmware-player Free virtual machine player from VMware vmware-player-kernel-modu vmware-player modules for Linux (kernel 2.6.17) 7 non-free packages, 0.6% of 1218 installed packages.

References

External links

Latest Debian package development status

Old Debian package development history for vrms
* * {{Debian Debian Linux package management-related software