Package: bootcd Version: 3.00 Severity: normal Hi!
The debian/copyright of bootcd currently states[1]: | This package was built and is maintained by | Bernd Schumacher Hewlett Packard Consulting <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. | | Copyright: | Copyright 2001-2005 Bernd Schumacher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | | License: | Most recent version of the GPL. | | On Debian GNU/Linux systems, the complete text of the GNU General | Public License can be found in `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL'. [1] http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/b/bootcd/bootcd_3.00/bootcd.copyright This license statement is ambiguous at least on one important aspect: which version of the GNU GPL is to be assumed? This issue has been discussed on debian-legal[2][3]. [2] http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2006/11/msg00101.html [3] http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2006/12/msg00037.html In a nutshell, assume I download bootcd now: I get it under the terms of GNU GPL v2. What will happen as soon as GPL v3 is out in its final form? Will I still be able to exercise the rights granted by GPL v2 on my copy of bootcd? Or does it automagically becomes licensed under GPL v3? This is not clear at all, by reading the license statement... I asked the FSF about my concerns and the response confirmed that the statement is ambiguous and unrecommendable[4]. [4] http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/02/msg00038.html This license statement should be clarified. Since you (the package maintainer) are the upstream copyright holder, as well, you can alter the license statement at will. Please decide if you prefer to license your package under the terms of the GNU GPL "v2 only" or if you'd rather have it under the GNU GPL "v2 or later". Those are practically the only two reasonable choices, currently. If you want to release bootcd under GPL v2 only, I recommend the following license statement: Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Bernd Schumacher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> This work is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation. This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA If you instead prefer to release bootcd under GPL v2 or later (but please note that that way you would be basically allowing relicensing under yet unknown terms and conditions, since GPLv3, as well as v4, v5, ..., v21, ... are not known in their final forms!), then I recommend the following license statement: Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Bernd Schumacher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> This work is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA Thanks for creating and maintaining such an useful package! :-) I'm looking forward to seeing this little bug fixed. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
