VRMS(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   VRMS(1)

NAME

       vrms - report of installed non-free software

SYNOPSIS

       vrms [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/vrms/reasons/.

       -h, --help
	      Display help.

       -d, --debug
	      Generate debugging information.

FILES

       /usr/share/vrms/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.

								A Cute Little Hack							   VRMS(1)