[Pkg-samba-maint] license of the packaging

[Steve Langasek]

On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 11:20:16PM +0200, Ivo De Decker wrote:
> The debian/copyright file in the samba_4.0 branch in the repo currently lists
> GPL-3 (only) as the license for the packaging, while the upstream samba code is
> licensed as GPL-3+ ('or later').

> I didn't investigate where this difference originated, but it might be simpler
> to keep the license in sync with (or at least not more restrictive than)
> upstream. That way, we avoid issues if upstream would move to a future version
> of the GPL some day (like they did with GPL v3).

> Any comments?

There is no compelling reason to license the packaging under the same
license as the software being packaged, as they are not combined into a
single work.  (Patches should be suitably licensed for upstream inclusion,
but that is a separate question.)  I do not, as a rule, license my work
under GPL N+ as I prefer to reserve for myself the right to evaluate future
GNU licenses for their compatibility with my goals in Free Software.

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 836 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-samba-maint/attachments/20130527/1ab929e2/attachment.pgp>