[SOLVED] Debian sources.list non-us

[brucehohl]

I have the following in my /etc/apt/sources.list. These repositories used to work, I think, until Sarge became stable:

deb ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

Now non-US testing and non-US unstable are no longer available at the above addresses. ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/dists/ does contain a directory for stable but not testing or unstable. Where can I now find these repositories?

Can anyone tell me what is the difference between Debian US and non-US packages?

Thanks for any replies.

[Hayl]

Mostly to do with Internation law on encryption that is forbidden in certain countries.

More info is available on the Debian website in their docs.

[timothykaine]

Non-US is no longer needed. At the time of last release, the items in non-us were "illegal", and changes in US law have deemed them acceptable.

Info is on debian.org.

[brucehohl]

Thanks for the replies. I found the following confirming information on the Debian website:

http://www.debian.org/mirror/list-non-US

Prior to the release of Debian 3.1, United States laws placed restrictions on the export of certain defense articles, which, unfortunately, included some types of cryptographic software. PGP and SSH, among others, fell into this category. It was legal however, to import such software into the US.

To prevent anyone from taking unnecessary legal risks, some Debian packages were only available from a site in Leiden, The Netherlands, until the release of Debian 3.1, which incorporates this software thanks to changes in United States law. You should not need the non-US archive unless you are using a version of Debian from before Debian 3.1.