# Using netpbm from http://netpbm.alioth.debian.org/ outside Debian

This package is free software, so you can of course also use it outside Debian. We are pleased if you like this package, and are willing to change it to make it fit better. But: We can't do any testing outside of Debian's current releases. And: In the way this package is constructed there are some manifestations of Debian's way of treating code. We try to document them in this file. If you need changes for better inclusion of this package in your favourite OS, please supply us with the details and, if possible, code. We would do what we can, as long as we don't breach Debian's rules or make things to complicated.

Assumptations of installed build helpers:

We assume that you have a working base system, means: All essential and build-essential packages are there. Among these, there are (this are the names used in Debian):

- libc6-dev
- gcc
- make
- bash
- bsdutils
- coreutils
- diff
- findutils
- grep
- gzip
- perl-base
- sed
- tar
- util-linux

We also assume that "install" is capable of creating directories and removing files that are at the to-be-installed location. We assume that the Makefiles don't need to handle old versions of files, but we have a package management system that removes them if needed. So we don't provide an uninstall. We assume that the target system is capable of using shared libraries, so we don't need a "merge" target.

If we broke your favourite OS, we're sorry about this. We are willing to add code for unbreaking, but you have to supply details to us. Code would make un-breaking even faster.

## Free software and copyright

This package will remain to consist to 100% of free software. Free software is used in Debian consistent to the Debian Free Software Guidlines (DFSG), as defined in http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines. See debian/copyright for a detailed list of copyright attached to each programm.

However, the clause above is only strict valid for version of the cvs branch tagged by us, and only to our best knowledge. Checkout to other times may have also code where we are very confident that it is free, but we don't have all license issues finally settled. (You can assume that we don't like to make the work of adding code, just to remove it later because of failing the DFSG. So be confident that it's normally just a missing e-mail in these cases.) Non-tagged cvs-code can also be failing in every other aspect, be uncompilable or similar things.

And: The clause just says that we are quite confident and we don't know of anything opposing this. But there can always be e.g. a patent unknown to us. If you notice such an error, please alert us (best via the Debian Bug Tracking System, http://bugs.debian.org/). If you notice a violation again the "free software"-clause, a severity of serious is adaequate.

We don't change tagged versions after listing the tag on the web site. So, if we notice an error, we'll correct this in cvs and release (and tag) a new version as soon as possible. So, you should use only the latest tagged version for your own safety.

## Bug Tracking

If you notice an error, please check first with your distribution whether this is an distribution-specific problem, and try to check a newer tagged version of the cvs code. If you are sure that you found an error in the cvs version, you can use the Debian Bug Tracking System via http://bugs.debian.org/. Please say in this case that you're using an version exported from the cvs, and give the tag you used to retrive the code to the BTS as version. And pre-check that this bug is not already listed on http://bugs.debian.org/src:netpbm-free.

However, you should assume that only the versions of this package work that are tagged by us and that have their tagged listed on the website. We would look also at other bug reports, but we might just close such a bug with the notice that you should test the newest tagged version.

## Changelog

The changes to this package are documented in HISTORY and in debian/changelog. We try to keep common changes in HISTORY, but we don't always achieve this, so you should look at both files.

[2003-11-23]