[Pkg-e-devel] license issue with embryo

[Xavier Oswald]

Hi there,

I have asked the upstream author of the famous file in embryo annoying us for
having it uploaded to debian ...

On 16:14 Fri 29 Feb     , Thiadmer Riemersma wrote:
> Hello Xavier Oswald,
>
> I distribute my source code under the zlib/libpng license. I started  
> putting on this license in the second half of 200. Probably embryo was  
> forked off the Small branch just before. As far as I am concerned, the  
> older sources also fall under the zlib/libpng license.
>
> Embryo is based on Small. Small (which is now call Pawn) is in turn  
> based on "Small C" is published in the book "Dr. Dobb's Toolbook of C",  
> 1986 (Brady Books). That book says (page 161):
>
> 	This version of Small-C is copyrighted; nevertheless, it
> 	is available to the general public for use without formal
> 	restrictions. Take it, use it, copy it, modify it, and
> 	give it away as you please. However, be sure to preserve
> 	the copyright notices. I am distributing Small-C under
> 	the user-supported concept, so if you obtain a "free"
> 	copy and find it useful, send a registration form and
> 	$20 to the author. You must obtain written permission
> 	to sell Small-C for more than your actual cost for media,
> 	packaging, and postage.
>
> That said, Small was actually based on the 8088 port distributed by BYTE  
> magazine in 1988, and that version is marked "public domain".
>
> Also, there is not much code left from Small-C. This was already true in  
> 2003, and it is even more so now. I have been keeping the copyrights in  
> the source code because Small is still using the concept of implementing  
> a recursive descent parser with function pointers looked up from a  
> table, which is how Ron Cain and James Hendrix implemented it in  
> Small-C. I do not know whether a concept is copyrightable, but Ron Cain  
> and James Hendrix deserve credit for the idea, of course.
>
> The compression algorithm in embryo_cc_scexpand.c was published in C  
> Users Journal in September 1997 by Philip Cage. There is no specific  
> license attached to that article.
>
> I hope the above has been helpful.
> Kind regards,
> Thiadmer Riemersma
> -- 
> ITB CompuPhase
> Eerste Industriestraat 19-21
> 1401VL  Bussum
> The Netherlands
>
> T: +31 35 6939261
> F: +31 35 6939293
> W: http://www.compuphase.com

Greetings,
-- 
  ,''`.  Xavier Oswald <x.oswald at free.fr>                   
 : :' :  GNU/LINUX Debian Maintainer                        
 `. `'   GnuPG Key ID 0x88BBB51E                            
   `-    938D D715 6915 8860 9679  4A0C A430 C6AA 88BB B51E 
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