[Trisquel-devel] RFC: "command not found" idea

[Felipe Sanches]

A common problem  for fully-free distro users is that sometimes they are
already aware of some existing non-free program and they try to run it
(maybe because they are not aware of its non-free status) and they simply
can't find it's package using apt. I think users should be better informed
about the reasons why a package is not available (more than simply because
it's non-free - I mean, what specific detail os the packaged triggered its
non-free status).

When an ubuntu user types a command that is not found installed in the
system, Ubuntu has a tool that informs the user that such command is
provided by a certain package that is available for instalation from the
apt repositories. I'd like to suggest a similar tool for Trisquel that
informs the user that a certain program is non-free and lists the reason
why it's not free. That way, if the user is not a developer, at least the
user is well informed about the issue at hand. And if the user is a
developer he/she can instantly become a contributor trying to fix the issue.

For that we would probably need to add metadata to the apt repositories
that cover the reasons why certain packages are lacking (maybe by creating
fake packages only to convey that informative message).

happy hacking
Felipe Sanches
São Paulo - Brazil
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