Best solution for getting the FSF's non-DFSG documentation on PureOS?

I need to read some of the FSF’s documentation, which violates DFSG (Debian software freedom standards), and presumably for this reason is not available in the PureOS archive. (Ironic, given that one of the aims of PureOS’s purity is to earn the FSF’s RYF status.)

What is the best way to install documentation that matches the package versions available from PureOS without messing up something else in my system? I imagine there is some editing of configuration files that will yield a not-horrible solution, but I’m not sure what it is. Suggestions?

An example of a package that seems to be missing from PureOS is emacs-common-non-dfsg.

You could add a package repository source by creating a list in sources.list.d then limiting that repository using a preferences file in preferences.d

This works for allowing packages from different repositories into your system, but it can lead to dependency nightmares if a package from list A needs an older version than a package from List B. If you only want a given package and it doesn’t require different dependencies then this is fine, but be careful and keep regular backups.

PureOS is a Free Software Foundation designated “free” distro: https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html. While we are working on RYF certification for our Librem Key we have not at this point received it, though we feel we will receive it soon. RYF is more for hardware while the distro designation is more for a collection of software.

The emacs-common-non-dfsg is likely easily installable and will most likely not interfere with the rest of your system. Documentation tends to be kept in a neutral place, namely; /usr/share/doc/ and I assume that the package you want will install docs there. Note that not all of Emacs is free software despite the fact that rms is credited as an emacs hacker. Others have worked on the project and it has forked a couple times so there are multiple emacs with many different licensing schemes.

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Sorry for confusing RYF with “free distro”!

Do you have a solution that easily and cheaply will install for me the “non-free” documentation files generated from the same package source versions as the PureOS packages? Yes, I know I can find files and put them by hand in /usr/share/doc. I’m hoping to avoid many hours/days of effort tracking down the right version of the documentation files and matching them with the PureOS packages I have.

By the way, due to the brilliance of the GNU GPL, all the forks of Emacs use the same licensing. In any case, it seems that all of the non-FSF forks have died or are at best moribund now.

But I’m interested in much more than just Emacs documentation. That was just the example I gave because I happened to have it on my screen.

Other (cleaner?) ideas:

  • Is the required documentation available online somewhere? which would obviate the need to install anything.
  • You could run a documentation VM that is polluted with whatever you need (may not even be running PureOS).