Copying a response from the Debian mailing list linked above that includes an email from James Roskind, the original author. The basic problem is that the profiler module restricts copying & altering the code to work done in python or for a python module - as such, it is too restrictive to fit into Debian's (and thus Ubuntu's) standard repos. Unfortunately, the company who owned the copyright has since been bought by Disney & then dissolved, so it isn't likely that anybody with the authority to update the license will be found. Really, the best bet - other than just notifying users that they'll need to find this package elsewhere (such as the multiverse repo) - would be to rewrite the library from scratch. It doesn't seem like that complicated of a task, but at the end of the day, whether it is worth it or not is a different question.
Anyhow, cutting & pasting the post from the Debian list, including Roskind's response: --- (from http://bugs.debian.org/cgi- bin/bugreport.cgi?msg=130;bug=293932) --- From: David Ascher <david.asc...@gmail.com> To: jer...@alum.mit.edu Cc: Tim Peters <tim.pet...@gmail.com>, 293...@bugs.debian.org, Matthias Klose <d...@cs.tu-berlin.de>, python-...@python.org Subject: Re: [Python-Dev] license issues with profiler.py and md5.h/md5c.c Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 13:45:54 -0800 On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 15:52:29 -0500, Jeremy Hylton <jhyl...@gmail.com> wrote: > Maybe some ambitious PSF activitst could contact Roskind and Steve > Kirsch and see if they know who at Disney to talk to... Or maybe the > Disney guys who were at PyCon last year could help. I contacted Jim. His response follows: --- I'm a strong supporter of Opensource software, but I'm probably not going to be able to help you very much. I could be much more helpful with understanding the code or its use ;-). To summarize what I'll say: I don't own the rights to this stuff. ... but I don't believe there are any patents that I was ever involved with that might encumber this work. I would note that my profiler code is really very rarely used in commercial products, and it is much more typically used by developers (I guess a developer toolkit, if sold, would use it). I'm pretty delighted that the code has found so much use by developers over the years. As I noted in the intro to the documentation, I had only been coding in Python for 3 weeks when I wrote it. On the positive side, it exposed many weaknesses in many developer's code (including our own at InfoSeek), as well as in core Python code (subtle bugs in the interpreter) that surely helped everyone. Even though I was a newbie, It was VERY carefully crafted,, and I'd expect that it would take a fair amount of effort to reproduce it (and that is is probably why it has not been changed much... or at least no one told me when they changed/fixed it ;-) ). With regard to why I probably can't help much..... First off, InfoSeek (holder of the copyright) was bought by Disney, and I don't know what if anything has eventually become of the tradename. There is a chance that Disney owns the rights... and I have no idea who to ask there :-/. Second, I took a look at the Copyright, and it sure seems pretty permissive. I'm amazed if folks want something more permissive. This is what I found on the web for it: Copyright © 1994, by InfoSeek Corporation, all rights reserved. Written by James Roskind.10.1 Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this Python software and its associated documentation for any purpose (subject to the restriction in the following sentence) without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies, and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of InfoSeek not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. This permission is explicitly restricted to the copying and modification of the software to remain in Python, compiled Python, or other languages (such as C) wherein the modified or derived code is exclusively imported into a Python module. INFOSEEK CORPORATION DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL INFOSEEK CORPORATION 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. As I recall, I probably personally created the terms of the above license. I used a similar license on my C/C++ grammar, and Infoseek just added a bunch of wording to be sure that they were not at risk, and that their name would not be used in vain (or in advertising material). I think they were also interested in limiting its use to Python.... but I don't think that is a concern that would bother you. I read the link you directed me to, and its primary focus seemed ot be on patents for related or included technology. I don't believe that infoseek applied for or got any patents in this area (and certainly if they did so without my name, it would probably invalidate the patent), and I'm sure I didn't get any patents in this area at Netscape/AOL. In fact I don't think I got any patents back in 1994 or 1995. My only prior patent dated back to about 1983 (a hardware patent) that has since expired. I have some patents since (roughly) 1995, and even though I don't think any of them relate to profiling (though some did relate to languages, or more specifically, security in languages), I wouldn't want to mess with assigning rights to any of those patents, as they belong to AOL/Netscape. Here again, to my knowledge, none of my patents relate in any way to this area (profiling). Sadly, if they did, I would not have the right to assign them. I'm sure you're just doing your job, and following through by dotting all the I's and crossing all T's. My suggestion is to (as you said) work around the issue. You could always re-write the code from scratch, as the approaches are not rocket science and are pretty thoroughly explained. I wouldn't suggest it unless you are desperate. If I were you, I'd wait for a license problem to emerge (which I don't believe will ever happen). --- FWIW, I agree. Personnally, I think that if Debian has a problem with the above, it's their problem to deal with, not Python's. --david -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/123755 Title: pstats module missing in python 2.4 and 2.5 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
