NAME

       check-dfsg-status - report of installed non-free software

SYNOPSIS

       check-dfsg-status [OPTION] ...

DESCRIPTION

       This  program  began  as  an  attempt to create a "virtual Richard M. Stallman" for Debian
       GNU/Linux.  Thus the choice of name.

       This program analyzes the currently-installed package list on a Debian  GNU/Linux  system,
       and  reports the non-free and contrib packages that are currently installed to stdout.  In
       some cases, such as regarding documentation licensed  under  the  GNU  Free  Documentation
       License  with  invariant  sections,  the  opinions  of Richard M.  Stallman and the Debian
       project have diverged since this program was originally  written.   In  such  cases,  this
       program follows the definition of freedom embodied in the Debian Free Software Guidelines.

       The packages in the non-free tree have restrictions on their use and/or distribution which
       cause them to fail to meet the terms of the Debian Free Software  Guidelines  included  as
       part  of  the  Debian  Social  Contract.  However, some are sufficiently useful that their
       presence is often tolerated by Debian users despite their licensing.

       The packages in the contrib tree are themselves free software but have some dependency  on
       non-free  software  for their use that make them worthy of reporting so that their use can
       also be consciously considered.

       Richard is the most vocal among us on the issue of software morality, and  we  agree  with
       Richard  that  Debian users should have an easy way to know when they are running non-free
       software on their systems.  This program is our attempt to fill that need.

OPTIONS

       All options can be prefixed with -- (eg: --noexplain) to turn them off.

       -q, --quiet
              Do nothing if there are no non-free packages installed.

       -e, --explain
              Give a brief explanation of why each package is non-free, if available. This is the
              default.

       -s, --sparse
              Just output a list of non-free packages.

       --reason-dir=DIR
              Use DIR as the reason directory, instead of /usr/share/check-dfsg-status/reasons/.

       -h, --help
              Display help.

       -d, --debug
              Generate debugging information.

FILES

       /usr/share/check-dfsg-status/reasons
              Default source of explanations for why packages are non-free.

HISTORY

       This  program was written by Bdale Garbee and Bill Geddes for the Debian GNU/Linux system,
       in response to an open discussion with Richard Stallman about the issues  surrounding  the
       availability/desirability  of  the  'non-free'  package  tree in Debian. It was originally
       named 'vrms' but for the reasons outlined  in  #962696  it  was  renamed  to  'check-dfsg-
       status'.

                                        A Cute Little Hack                   CHECK-DFSG-STATUS(1)