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4.3 KiB
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translating---geekpi
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The Vrms Program Helps You To Find Non-free Software In Debian
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======
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The other day I was reading an interesting guide that explained the [**difference between free and open source software on Digital ocean**][1]. Until then, I thought both are more or less same. Oh man, I was wrong. There are few significant differences between them. While reading that article, I was wondering how to find non-free software in Linux, hence this post.
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### Say hello to “Virtual Richard M. Stallman”, a Perl script to find Non-free Software in Debian
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The **Virtual Richard M. Stallman** , shortly **vrms** , is a program, written in Perl, that analyzes the list of installed software on your Debian-based systems and reports all of the packages from non-free and contrib trees which are currently installed. For those wondering, a free software should meet the following [**four essential freedoms**][2].
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* **Freedom 0** – The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
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* **Freedom 1** – The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
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* **Freedom 2** – The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
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* **Freedom 3** – The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
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Any software that doesn’t meet the above four conditions are not considered as a free software. In a nutshell, a **Free software means the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.**
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Now let us find if the installed software is free or non-free, shall we?
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The Vrms package is available in the default repositories of Debian and its derivatives like Ubuntu. So, you can install it using apt package manager using the following command.
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```
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$ sudo apt-get install vrms
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```
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Once installed, run the following command to find non-free software in your debian-based system.
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```
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$ vrms
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```
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Sample output from my Ubuntu 16.04 LTS desktop.
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```
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Non-free packages installed on ostechnix
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unrar Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version)
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1 non-free packages, 0.0% of 2103 installed packages.
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```
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![][4]
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As you can see in the above screenshot, I have one non-free package installed in my Ubuntu box.
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If you don’t have any non-free packages on your system, you should see the following output instead.
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```
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No non-free or contrib packages installed on ostechnix! rms would be proud.
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```
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Vrms can able to find non-free packages not just on Debian but also from Ubuntu, Linux Mint and other deb-based systems as well.
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**Limitations**
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The Vrms program has some limitations though. Like I already mentioned, it lists the packages from the non-free and contrib sections installed. However, some distributions doesn’t follow the policy which ensures proprietary software only ends up in repository sections recognized by vrms as “non-free” and they make no effort to preserve this separation. In such cases, Vrms won’t recognize the non-free software and will always report that you have non-free software installed on your system. If you’re using distros like Debian and Ubuntu that follows the policy of keeping proprietary software in a non-free repositories, Vrms will definitely help you to find the non-free packages.
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And, that’s all. Hope this was useful. More good stuffs to come. Stay tuned!
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Happy Tamil new year wishes to all Tamil folks around the world!
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Cheers!
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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via: https://www.ostechnix.com/the-vrms-program-helps-you-to-find-non-free-software-in-debian/
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作者：[SK][a]
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译者：[译者ID](https://github.com/译者ID)
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校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID)
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选题：[lujun9972](https://github.com/lujun9972)
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本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出
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[a]:https://www.ostechnix.com/author/sk/
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[1]:https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/Free-vs-Open-Source-Software
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[2]:https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
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[3]:data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
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[4]:http://www.ostechnix.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/vrms.png
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