Hi Don,
The license against which you have raised a bug is not the one that
covers the version that is currently part of debian. The appropriate
license is here:
http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/d/dcraw/dcraw_8.39-1/dcraw.copyright
You should also probably consider the text on the web page where the
source is available http://cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/ :
"[dcraw is] free (both "gratis" and "libre")..."
and
"Unless otherwise noted in the source code, these programs are free for
all uses..."
If you could advise on any issues with that version, it would be
appreciated.
My query on debian-legal was with respect to the current license text,
rather than the historical license that applies to the version in debian.
However I will raise your comments with Mr Coffin.
Thanks for your help.
--
Steve King
Don Armstrong wrote:
Package: dcraw
Version: 7.02-1
Severity: serious
On Thu, 05 Jul 2007, Steve King wrote:
However I would appreciate it if the assembled masses of legal
experts could confirm that they agree that this is the case.
There's actually an even more fundamental problem with dcraw.c:
/*
dcraw.c -- Dave Coffin's raw photo decoder
Copyright 1997-2007 by Dave Coffin, dcoffin a cybercom o net
This is a command-line ANSI C program to convert raw photos from
any digital camera on any computer running any operating system.
No license is required to download and use dcraw.c. However,
to lawfully redistribute this code, you must either (a) include
full source code* for all executable files containing RESTRICTED
functions, (b) remove all RESTRICTED functions, re-implement them,
or copy them from an earlier, unrestricted Revision of dcraw.c,
or (c) purchase a license from the author.
The functions that process Foveon images have been RESTRICTED
since Revision 1.237. All other code remains free for all uses.
*If you have not modified dcraw.c in any way, a link to my
homepage qualifies as "full source code".
$Revision: 1.387 $
$Date: 2007/06/24 00:18:52 $
*/
You'll notice that we have no permission to distribute modified
versions of dcraw.c as required by the DFSG. Secondly, it appears that
we must include full source code if we've modified dcraw.c, but we
don't do that. We distribute source alongside.
If you could get Dave Coffin to explicitely dual license under the
GPL, that'd clarify this entire problem. [He seems to want a copyleft,
which the GPL would grant.]
Text like:
Alternately, you can redistribute and/or modify this work 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.
would do the trick.
Don Armstrong
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