[Pkg-gridengine-devel] spinbox license (was: Files excluded)

[Wouter Verhelst]

Hi Afif,

(sorry about the late reply here, busy with other things...)

On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 03:57:19PM -0800, Afif Elghraoui wrote:
> Hi, Dave,
> 
> على الجمعـة 11 كانون الأول 2015 ‫14:07، كتب Dave Love:
> >> There is actually another set of files in source/3rdparty/qmon/spinbox/
> >> > that I have some suspicions about. I won't bother you with the details
> >> > since the issue also appears to exist in what Fedora distributes and
> >> > what Univa is distributing on github. I will probably ask ftp-master or
> >> > the people on debian-legal.
> > Could you explain?
> > 
> 
> I documented it in debian/copyright [1] (the relevant snippet is below)
[...]
>  If you have access to internet e-mail, you must make a good faith effort to
>  notify the author of the widget describing the use to which the widget is
>  being put. The author's email address can be found in the widget's
>  documentation. Nothing will be done with this information; this condition
>  exists only to satisfy the author's curiosity regarding the usefulness of
>  this widget. :)
> ~~~
> 
> The first condition there is not being followed, and the second one
> looks non-free to me.

I agree, but only because it is worded as a requirement. In doing so, it
fails the dissident test[1]. While the dissident test is not a part of
the DFSG, it does mean it fails DFSG#1 (free redistribution) and DFSG#3
(derived works) in that there are requirements set forth for such
redistribution or derivation that the DFSG does not allow.

Given the rationale that appears at the end of the requirement, however,
(it's "only to satisfy the author's curiosity"), I suspect he may be
willing to change the license so that this requirement is changed into a
(possibly strongly-worded) request; e.g., something along the lines
of...

    if you use this widget, the author would like to be informed about
    such use by email.

This way, it is not a requirement, and therefore can be ignored for
purposes of the DFSG, which would no longer make it non-free.

While the bit about non-modification is explicitly allowed by DFSG#4,
non-adherence to that still matters; otherwise, gridengine isn't
following the license as written, and that *also* isn't allowed for
inclusion into Debian...

[1] https://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html#testing

-- 
It is easy to love a country that is famous for chocolate and beer

  -- Barack Obama, speaking in Brussels, Belgium, 2014-03-26
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 819 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-gridengine-devel/attachments/20160102/a0d1aec7/attachment-0001.sig>