The debate over the free and proprietary aspects of the Debian GNU/Linux has been whirling up for a while and with each new update to the OS. It peaked recently with the call for votes to determine the course of the Lenny release and Debian's social contract, which ended in the resignation of the project's secretary, Manoj Srivastava. The prominent Linux developer and CTO of the Linux Foundation, Ted Ts'o, responded to the debate in a recent blog, using a quote from Gordon Dickson's Tactics of Mistakes. The book treats of philosophers and how their militant followers pursue their ideas uncompromisingly. Ts'o writes, "The conflict between idealism and pragmatism is a very old one in the Free and Open Source Software Movement." He gives Richard Stallman as an example of someone "who has never compromised on issues regarding his vision of Software Freedom."

Particularly offensive to some Debian developers might be Ts'o's assertion that the Debian derivative Ubuntu could provide a positive model. Despite not always agreeing with Mark Shuttleworth on all matters or on his leadership of Canonical and the Ubuntu Linux variant, Ts'o is nonetheless sympathetic with the rules Shuttleworth instituted for Ubuntu, its Code of Conduct. He suggests that Debian developers should take "some kind of Code of Conduct at least as seriously as the Social Contract" and believes that the Debian project "would be far more efficient... and far more successful." He goes on say, "This may, however, require lessening the importance of philosophical constructs such as Free Speech and Free Software, and perhaps becoming more pragmatic and more considerate towards one another."

The wording of Debian's Social Contract is part of the problem, says Ts'o. He quotes the first paragraph, which reads, "Debian will remain 100% free... We will never make the system require the use of a non-free component." Ts'o finds fault with the expressions "100% free" and "never" in that they hardly allow for compromise: "In addition, the Debian Social Contract tends to be interpreted by computer programmers, who view such imperatives as constraints that must never be violated, under any circumstances." Ts'o cites numerous examples, relevant to the current Holiday season, where rules such as "Though shalt not kill" or "Though shalt not steal" have been broken justifiably and relativized due to war, hunger or other life conditions. He asks, "So if even the sixth and eighth commandments admit to exceptions, why is it that some Debian developers approach the first clause of the Debian Social Contract with a take-no-prisoners, no-exceptions policy?" He points to the particular fourth clause that states "We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free software community. We will place their interests first in our priorities." For him, that presupposes exceptions and flexibility.

Ts'o asserts his own feelings with "I personally believe that '100% free software' is a wonderful aspirational goal, but in particular with regards to standards documents and firmware, there are other considerations that should be taken into account." As to the vehemence and tone of the recent debate, Ts'o finds a further example in the Biblical rule "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" and adds the words, "Even for those who do not claim Christianity as their religious tradition, most moral and ethical frameworks have some variant on the Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'." He warns against moving Free Software "dangerously close" to a form of idolatry. "Ultimately," he say, "I consider people to be more important than computers, hardware or software."