Contents
Summary
Users should be offered the 'tainted' repositories during installation, with due warnings, primarily to enable all multi-media codecs to be installed rather than having to specifically seek them out later.
Owner
- Name: Lewis Smith
- Email: lewyssmith@onetel.com
Resources
List here people who will be implied in this feature (packagers, QA, doc, ...)
Current status
- Targeted release: Mageia 6.
- Last updated: 2025/05/11
- Percentage of completion: <XX>%
Detailed Description
Why it would be good for Mageia to include it
It is a common query or complaint from users that various multi-media files do not play, multi-media web sites do not work. The solution is nearly always to enable the 'tainted' repositories and install the relevant sound or video codec packages. This is offered from Mageia Welcome, but you have to go there and spot it; otherwise you just have to know.
This is a normal requirement of users, who do not want the hassle of explicitly enabling & installing extra things just to hear some music or watch a video. They want things to work out-of-the-box, which many distributions claim but few achieve. It would be a feather in the cap for Mageia to be one of the goodies.
There are strong objections to any Linux offering these proprietary codecs, not least legal threats. The fact is that Mageia already offers them to anyone interested in installing them. Offering their inclusion during installation should not change the legal picture. What is important is that the user must:
- Be clearly warned of his criminality;
- Be made to explicitly ask for them.
We currently ask users during installation whether they are willing to use 'non-free' drivers, default YES. It has been suggested that this option should be stretched to include all non-free software, the 'non-free' repositories.
At the same point, we can simply ask them whether they want 'tainted' software, notably codecs, default NO. This should save Mageia from legal hassle beyond what it is already vulnerable to. Choosing YES would install everything multi-media, sound & video. If a user did not want one or other, the system overhead of having the unwanted group would be insignificant.
Test case
Anything useful for QA and all testers to help debugging during all development cycle
Software / Packages Dependencies
List of packages to be implied: installers, either during installation or at first re-boot configuration.
What could disrupt development of this new feature
Planning
Contingency
Release Notes
Documentation
BenMC: I was reading that a fellow distribution on Distro-watch has enabled a 2nd license agreement, which is presented when those pesky codecs are selected for and are installed during installation of the system. LS: Seems a sensible approach.
