FYI. Originally sent to wrong bug number. Sorry about lack of
responsiveness this week I'm a bit ill
Alastair
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: License issues with code in xgks
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:20:31 +0100
From: Steven Pemberton <steven.pember...@cwi.nl>
Organisation: CWI
To: Steven Pemberton <steven.pember...@cwi.nl>, Alastair McKinstry
<mckins...@debian.org>
I should point out that gcc includes enquire with exactly the same
wording, so if anyone has a problem with xgks, then that is the least of
their problems :-)
I believe that this license is fine, because packaging costs (selling a
CD) are not licensing costs. It is still available for free, and so the
conditions of the license are fulfilled. This section was added because
Oracle stole the code once, modified it, added their own copyright
notice, and sold it, and the license wording is trying to prevent that
happening again. However, the wording comes from the very beginning days
of the free-software era.
If you can suggest a wording, I'd be interested to hear.
Best wishes,
Steven
On Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:13:24 +0100, Alastair McKinstry
<mckins...@debian.org> wrote:
I don't believe so. The code is the xgks repository at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xgks
and it was only noticed this weekend that your license on the file
did not match the
UCAR/IBM license at the top of the tree.
We are preparing the next release of Debian, and there are
additional people checking all the licenses
of new packages. In this release I have added the 'xgks' and
'ferret' packages which are available in the
current "unstable" Debian release (which is already the base for
Ubuntu, Mint, etc. releases).
If you are amenable to a change, I will include either a changed
comment by yourself,
or the new version of enquire.c (thanks for the pointer; I hadn't
seen it).
I will also document your copyright and license terms in the
debian/copyright file;
(In Debian for each package we document all copyright /license
information in
/usr/share/doc/<package>/copyright (in addition to including other
files requested by
the copyright owner).
As this is in the Debian freeze period, no substantial changes will
be allowed by the release managers.
In this release my options are tied to (1) the documentation
described above, or
(2) pulling the packages from release. I'll investigate including
the new enquire.c for the next
release.
best regards
Alastair
On 2013-01-28 13:53, Steven Pemberton wrote:
> By the way, did you modify config.c? Because the section you are troubled
about is only in
relation to modified copies.
>
> And did you know that (if it is called config.c) you are using a
very old version?
> The most up-to-date version is here:
http://www.cwi.nl/~steven/enquire.html
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Steven
>
>
> On Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:55:02 +0100, Alastair McKinstry
<mckins...@debian.org> wrote:
>
>> Dear Steven,
>>
>> I am the maintainer in Debian for "xgks" and other meteorology
software.
>> Included in this is the file src/port/misc/config.c that you wrote.
>>
>> The overall license of "xgks" is included below, but it appears to
>> conflict with the
>> "SMALL PRINT" you included in you file, which was only just noticed:
>>
>> The difficulty is the "licensed at no charge" bit. (For a
discussion on
>> this see the DFSG FAQ
>> http://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq). It bans people selling
copies
>> of Debian for-profit
>> (distributing CDs for profit, while making the source freely
available)
>> and corporate
>> resellers using Debian as the base for their systems. From my
>> perspective, it unfortunately
>> means meteorology software such as "ferret" which use xgks cannot be
>> distributed by
>> Debian.
>>
>> I am asking if you would be willing to reconsider this sentence,
so that
>> the file can be
>> included in free software.
>>
>> best regards, and thank you for your commitment to free and open
source
>> softare,
>>
>> Alastair McKinstry
>>
>>
>> Your comments in the file:
>>
>> THE SMALL PRINT
>> You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of this source file.
>>
>> You may modify this source file, and copy and distribute such
>> modified versions, provided that you leave the copyright notice
>> at the top of the file and also cause the modified file to carry
>> prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date
>> of any change; and cause the whole of any work that you distribute
>> or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is a derivative of
>> this program or any part thereof, to be licensed at no charge to
>> all third parties on terms identical to those here.
>>
>> If you do have a fix to any problem, please send it to me, so that
>> other people can have the benefits.
>>
>> While every effort has been taken to make this program as reliable as
>> possible, no responsibility can be taken for the correctness of the
>> output, or suitability for any particular use.
>>
>>
>> Copyright:
>>
>> (C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1989. All Rights Reserved
>>
>> Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
>> documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
>> provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and
that
>> both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
>> supporting documentation, and that the name of IBM not be used in
>> advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software
>> without specific, written prior permission.
>>
>> IBM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING
>> ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT
>> SHALL IBM BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES
>> OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
PROFITS,
>> WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
ACTION,
>> ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
>> SOFTWARE.
>>
>>
>> (C) Copyright 1993 UCAR/Unidata
>>
>> Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
>> documentation for any purpose without fee is hereby granted,
>> provided that
>> the above copyright notice appears in all copies, that both that
>> copyright
>> notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
>> documentation, and
>> that the name of UCAR/Unidata not be used in advertising or publicity
>> pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written
>> prior
>> permission. UCAR makes no representations about the suitability
of this
>> software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or
>> implied warranty. It is provided with no support and without
>> obligation on
>> the part of UCAR or Unidata, to assist in its use, correction,
>> modification, or enhancement.
--
Alastair McKinstry , <alast...@sceal.ie> ,
<mckins...@debian.org> http://blog.sceal.ie
Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite
world
is either a madman or an economist - Kenneth Boulter, Economist.
