Whereas:

  1. The Debian Policy Manual states (§2.2.1) that packages in main
     "must not require or recommend a package outside of main for
     compilation or execution".  Both "Depends: package-in-non-free" and
     "Recommends: package-in-non-free" clearly violate this requirement.
     The Technical Committee has been asked to determine whether a
     dependency of the form "package-in-main | package-in-non-free"
     complies with this policy requirement, or whether virtual packages
     must instead be used to avoid mentioning the non-free alternative.

  2. Both options have the following effects in common, meeting the
     standard that main should be functional and useful while being
     self-contained:

    (a) Package managers configured to consider only main will install
        package-in-main.

    (b) Package managers configured to consider both main and non-free
        will prefer to install package-in-main, but may install
        package-in-non-free instead if so instructed, or if
        package-in-main is uninstallable.

    (c) If package-in-non-free is already installed, package managers
        will proceed without installing package-in-main.

  3. The significant difference between these two options is that the
     former makes the non-free alternative visible to everyone who
     examines the dependency relationship, while the latter does not.

A 4. Merely mentioning that a non-free alternative exists does not
A    constitute a recommendation of that alternative.  For example, many
A    free software packages state quite reasonably that they can be
A    compiled and executed on non-free platforms.
A
A 5. Furthermore, virtual packages are often a clumsy way to express
A    these kinds of alternatives.  If a package happens to require any
A    of several implementations of a facility that have a certain
A    option, then it can either depend on suitable alternatives
A    directly, or its maintainer can first attempt to have fine-grained
A    virtual packages added to each of the packages they wish to permit.
A    In some cases this may be appropriate, but it can easily turn into
A    quite a heavyweight approach.
A
A Therefore:
A
A 6. The Technical Committee resolves that alternative dependencies of
A    the form "Depends: package-in-main | package-in-non-free" are
A    permissible in main, and do not constitute a violation of the
A    policy clause cited in point 1.
A
A 7. We nevertheless recommend that packages in main consider carefully
A    whether this might cause the inadvertent installation of non-free
A    packages due to conflicts, especially those with usage
A    restrictions.

B 4. Listing a package explicitly in a Recommends field clearly states
B    that we are recommending it, even if the package appears only as
B    a secondary alternative.  Official statements to the contrary are
B    ineffective at preventing readers from getting the impression
B    that packages mentioned in "Recommends" are being recommended.
B
B 5. One of the main goals of the Debian Project is to promote
B    software freedom.  Promoting software freedom includes avoiding
B    promoting non-free software, at the very least when it's
B    straightforward to do so.
B
B 6. The alternative, of using a neutrally-named virtual package, is
B    only slightly inconvenient.  Virtual packages are a suitable
B    existing mechanism for packages to declare the set of abstract
B    features they provide, and allow packages in main to depend on
B    such abstract features without needing to name every (free or
B    non-free) alternative.  They should nevertheless name at least one
B    free preferred alternative, so that the package management system
B    has appropriate defaults.
B
B 7. There are not very many dependencies which need to be fixed.
B    In any case, changing the policy (without making this a release
B    critical bug) doesn't constitute a demand that the existing
B    maintainers do this work.  However, it is needed to ensure that
B    those who do want to do the work can get their changes accepted.
B
B Therefore:
B
B 8. The Technical Committee resolves that alternative dependencies of
B    the form "Depends: package-in-main | package-in-non-free"
B    constitute a non-release-critical violation of the policy
B    clause cited in point 1.
B
B 9. When it is necessary to provide a reference in a Depends or
B    Recommends from main to non-free, this should be done via a
B    neutrally named virtual package.  Packages depending on such a
B    virtual package should specify a real package in main as the first
B    alternative, e.g. "Depends: package-in-main | virtual-interface".
B
B 10. The Technical Committee requests that the policy editors make
B    an appropriate clarification to the policy documents.