Re: [libreplanet-discuss] freedom problems in docker

[Tobias Platen]

On 04/24/2016 11:23 AM, Richard Stallman wrote:
>    > this is the repository
>    > https://hub.docker.com/
>    > When you want to run container
>
>    > you must type docker run The container in you want to run
>    > docker will Download the container from the repository and run it
>
> That means there are three different ethical issues:
>
> * The system that does the packaging.
This one could be free (Trisquel 7 includes Docker) or non-free 
(Microsoft wants to run Docker on Windows).
> * What it puts into a container (aside from the program
> you want to package).  Of course, if you package a nonfree
> program, the container will not be free.  But suppose
> you package a free program: is the container free?
A container is similar to a GNU/Linux distribution, but it does not 
contain Linux, as Linux is already part of the host system.
> * The repository where it stores containers.
> You've just said it contains nonfree containers.
Dockerhub does not tell users that a container contains non-free 
software and there are no freedom-verifies as found on free GNU/Linux 
distribution. Even if the application is free, the OS environment could 
be non-free. Years before Docker, Musicbrainz began distbuting Ubuntu 
based Virtual Machines that include the free Musicbrainz server software 
and the database.

> Also how are these related?
>
> 1. Do they distribute a program with which you can do
> packaging on your own computer?  If so, is it free?
> (I expect it probably is, but I don't actually know.)
Packaging can be done on your own computer with only free software.

> Or does packaging work as SaaSS ?  See
> http://gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html.
Dockerhub is not SaaSS, its more a "cloud storage" service.



> 2. To run a container, are you compelled to run it from
> their repository?  Or is their repository merely one way
> that containers can be distributed?
>
> Thus, I wonder exactly what this means:
>
>    > you must type docker run The container in you want to run
>    > docker will Download the container from the repository and run it
>
> When you say "must", is this the ONLY way to run a container,
> downloaded straight from the repository?  That method of distributing
> them and running them is bad, because (1) if the repository contains
> nonfree containers, we don't want to link to it, and (2) when users
> run any program straight off someone else's server without the step of
> deciding which package to install, that suppresses development and
> release of other versions, and modification by the user.
Containers can be uploaded to any FTP site, so there is no force to use 
Dockerhub.

I once tried to use Docker on Trisquel 7, but I did not use its 
networking functions. Now I discovered GNU GUIX and use that as a docker 
replacement. As I prefer copylefted free software over non-copyleft free 
software, and GNU GUIX really solves the problems that Docker has tried 
to solve, I won't recommend Docker unless they change to license to GPLv3.

--
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