Is this Libre software?

Wow, I installed it! I can't believe I managed to do it so easily! In case another novice is interested, I right-clicked on the folder where the shell script file was (the extracted file), chose Open in Terminal, then in the terminal typed:

./truecrypt-7.1a-setup-x86*

i.e., added ./ before the name of the file and * at the end of it. Then just followed the instructions (accept licence, etc.)

Then found the name of the package in the directory /usr/share/applications and opened it by double-clicking on it. That started the application.

So I guess to install package that is not available through Synaptic, you just do ./FILENAME* where FILENAME is the name of the shell file, but corerct me if I am wrong.

http://trisquel.info/en/forum/truecrypt
http://trisquel.info/en/forum/replacement-truecrypt

Search the forum for old discussions, it has very complex wording and
unique clauses that make many people consider it nonfree, while I
disagree with all their specific arguments.

I haven't seen such self-extracting tar archive shell scripts used for
other software (it contains a tar file after the script part).
Interesting solution, not as nice as distro packages which need
e.g. simpler licensing.

Thanks icarolongo. Darn... That's unfortunate, since I found it easier to use than any other package in Trisqual that does the same.

Fortunately I saved the uninstall instructions: sudo truecrypt-uninstall.sh which removed it.

Have you tried Tomb?

It is similar to truecrypt and it is free software. It is a script nowadays (used to be a package) so it is used with CLI.

http://www.dyne.org/software/tomb/

"But it also contains sections such as"

I think that it the reply is, perhaps, intended to be a non-exhaustive list of reasons the FSF doesn't consider it to be free.