[Pkg-rust-maintainers] Bug#931003: Bug#931003: Removed package(s) from unstable

[Santiago Vila]

On Thu, May 06, 2021 at 09:50:43AM +0200, Gerardo Ballabio wrote:
> Santiago Vila wrote:
> > Among those packages there is even a GPL violation in gcc-8-cross,
> as the FTBFS problem happens because the Makefile is buggy (the GPL
> says packages must be distributed with a working Makefile).
> 
> I was very surprised to read that. I just reread the GPL and could not
> find that condition. Could you please direct me to where it says so?
> As far as I understand, the GPL doesn't (and shouldn't) even require
> that packages have a Makefile at all. Indeed, I believe there are
> plenty of GPL'd software that use other build systems.
> And any requirement that software may not have bugs is of course unenforceable.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say that packages should include a Makefile.
I meant that the Makefile, if present, should *work*.

Quoting GPL-2:

 The source code for a work means [...] plus the scripts used to
 control compilation and installation of the executable.

This is a general reference to whatever procedure a program may have
to be built. If the program normally needs a Makefile, you have to
provide the Makefile, and I guess that it's reasonable to assume that
the Makefile should work, because the purpose is to enable anybody
who receives the source code to build the program.

In the case of gcc-8-cross, there is a Makefile which may or may not
work:

https://jenkins-1.reliable-builds.org/job/gcc-8-cross/

which I consider a GPL violation.

Thanks.