Bug#617931: gmsh: multiple licensing issues

[Francesco Poli]

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:46:45 +0200 Anton Gladky wrote:

> > There seem to be other GPL-licensed libraries linked with gmsh:
> > libcholmod1.7.1 (some parts are GPL-licensed)
> > libumfpack5.4.0 (UMFPACK is GPL-licensed)
> > http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/s/suitesparse/current/copyright
> > Please correct me if I am wrong.
> >
> > Linking with these libraries seem to still make the GPL-incompatibility
> > of OCE/OpenCASCADE very relevant, unfortunately.
> 
> I think, gmsh does not link with those libraries, they are just in deps, what
> should be fixed.

Wonderful!
Then, please fix the unnecessary dependencies, so that the binary
packages do not depend on unused libraries and it is clear to everybody
that no GPL-licensed library is linked with the executable or the
libraries shipped by gmsh packages.

> 
> If we believe dpkg-shlibdeps, it says in buildlogs the following [...]:
> 
> ========
> dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if
> debian/gmsh/usr/bin/gmsh was not linked against libcholmod.so.1.7.1
> (it uses none of the library's symbols)
> ....
> dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if
> debian/gmsh/usr/bin/gmsh was not linked against libumfpack.so.5.4.0
> (it uses none of the library's symbols)
> ========

I am not sure I understand this: it seems to say that /usr/bin/gmsh is
indeed linked with libcholmod.so.1.7.1 and libumfpack.so.5.4.0, but
uses none of those libraries' symbols.
Why does this happen?
How can it be fixed?

> 
> So, if GMSH does not link with libraries, can we close the bug?

As far as I can see, there are still the following unsolved parts of
the issue:

 * the m68k arch has to be dropped, so that the dependency on the GSL
library may be completely removed

 * unused GPL-licensed libraries (libcholmod1.7.1 and libumfpack5.4.0)
should be kicked away from the (shlibdeps-generated) dependencies, so
that it is clear that they are indeed unused


I think that the bug will be closeable *after* fixing these remaining
parts of the issue.


P.S.: even though it may have been less than clear from my previous
messages, I would like to explicitly say that I really appreciate the
effort you are dedicating to the resolution of this issue; thanks for
your time!

-- 
 http://www.inventati.org/frx/frx-gpg-key-transition-2010.txt
 New GnuPG key, see the transition document!
..................................................... Francesco Poli .
 GnuPG key fpr == CA01 1147 9CD2 EFDF FB82  3925 3E1C 27E1 1F69 BFFE
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 836 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-science-maintainers/attachments/20120919/5ffabf40/attachment.pgp>