Bug#618696: closed by Adam C Powell IV <hazelsct at debian.org> (Re: elmer: multiple licensing issues)

[Francesco Poli]

On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 22:48:22 -0400 Adam C Powell IV wrote:

[...]
> On Sun, 2011-04-10 at 22:56 +0200, Francesco Poli wrote:
[...]
> > Since the first licensing issue is still present (non-freeness of a
> > QPL-licensed file), I am reopening the bug report.
> 
> Is QPL really considered non-DFSG-free?

I am convinced that it fails to meet the DFSG, and it seems that I am
not the only one.
Please take a look at the already cited (long) threads on debian-legal:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/07/msg00157.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/07/msg00339.html

As I have already said: at least one package (libcwd) got moved from
main to non-free due to the QPL (see bug #251983), and one package
(ocaml) is in main because it's licensed under the terms of a modified
QPL, without the choice of venue clause and with an additional
permission to ignore clause 6c (see ocaml changelog entry for version
3.08.1-1).

> The Wiki [1] includes it among
> "Licenses whose status is unsettled",

That's it: I don't think there should be works under highly
controversial licenses in Debian main...

> and although the example mentioned
> of Qt can be in main because it is QPL/GPL (or was when this was
> written), the acceptance of deal.II [2] into main indicates that the FTP
> masters believe that QPL is DFSG-free.

I am convinced that accepting QPL-licensed works in main is a mistake
(maybe an oversight, or maybe not, but a mistake anyway).


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