[DebianGIS-dev] Bug#497115: gpsdrive: possibly non-free file scripts/gpsfetchmap.pl

[Sami Liedes]

Package: gpsdrive
Version: 2.10~pre4-6
Severity: normal

[Cc: to debian-legal]

Hi,

The source package contains the file scripts/gpsfetchmap.pl, which
has this copyright notice:

------------------------------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/perl
# gpsfetchmap
#
# You are allowed to modify the source code in any way you want
# except you cannot modify this copyright details
# or remove the polite feature.
#
# NO WARRANTY.
------------------------------------------------------------

and:

------------------------------------------------------------
my $VERSION ="gpsfetchmap (c) 2002 Kevin Stephens <gps\@suburbialost.com>
modified (Sep 2002) by Sven Fichtner <sven.fichtner\@flugfunk.de>
modified (Nov 2002) by Magnus Månsson <ganja\@0x63.nu>
modified (Nov 2003) by camel <camel\@insecure.at>
modified (Feb 2004) by Robin Cornelius <robin\@cornelius.demon.co.uk>
modified (Jan 2005) by Joerg Ostertag <gpsdrive\@ostertag.name>
modified (May 2005) by Olli Salonen <olli\@cabbala.net>
modified (Jul 2005) by Jaroslaw Zachwieja <grok\@filippa.org.uk>
modified (Dec 2005) by David Pollard <david dot pollard\@optusnet.com.au>
modified (Jul 2007) by Maciek Kaliszewski <mkalkal\@interia.pl>
Version svn-$Version
";
------------------------------------------------------------

The "polite feature" apparently refers to an option that sleeps
between web server accesses.

While arguably a minor restriction, I wonder if debian-legal considers
this sufficient to render the file non-free, and whether the terse
license clearly enough grants all the permissions required for it to
be free. Of course if you feel I'm just nitpicking, feel free to close
the bug.

	Sami