Re: Bug#323099: no longer a bug.
Mike O'Connor <stew@vireo.org>
> > [see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#ModifyGPL ].
>
> That URL says that you can modify the GPL to create your own license,
> then release your software under that license, just don't call it "GPL"
> anymore. It doesn't say, you can take some work that someone has
> released under the GPL and modify the license, the release it under this
> modified license.
>
> What the author has done in this case is say, "you can use this software
> under these licenses, you can modify the software, but you cannot modify
> the licenses".
I see the invariance of licences as a practical consequence of copyright
law. If a licensor (note: not author) says we cannot modify the licence,
that's a no-op for packages under that licence: we should be giving our
downstream recipients the copyright licence as we got it anyway.
If you put a licence as an uneditable part of another work (putting a
GPL copy into a FDL invariant section, for example), then it is a bug.
> Debian does have the requirement that you can modify the licenses that
> software is released under, right?
I don't understand this question. The licence is granted by upstream.
We may or may not be able to release a derived work under a different
licence, but as long as we can release it as free software under the
same licence, that meets the DFSG (IIRC).
Hope that explains,
--
MJR/slef
My Opinion Only: see http://people.debian.org/~mjr/
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