Re: license question
Faheem Mitha <faheem@email.unc.edu> writes:
> I have a question about a software license. The software in question
> is not packaged for Debian.
Can you tell us what the software is and where it can be found?
> Is the following license a free software license (by the defn of the
> DFSG)?
The license isn't measured against the DFSG; the software work is.
> It looks to me like a BSD style license, but I'm not an expert. If
> not, what is problematic about it?
>
> Please cc me at the above email address. Thanks. Faheem.
Done.
> ************************************************************************
> Copyright (c) 2007, Patrick Kranzlmueller (vonautomatisch
> werkstaetten), All rights reserved.
The "All rights reserved" is confusing (since they then go on to
*un*-reserve many of those same rights) and is usually regarded as
legally null. Probably best if it were dropped, to let the grant of
license be clearer.
> Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
> modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
> met
> :
>
> 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
> notice, this list of conditions and the following
> disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
> copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
> in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
> distribution. 3. Neither the name of FileBrowser nor the names of its
> contributors may be used to endorse or prom ote products derived from
> this software without specific prior written permission.
These are the (badly-formatted; did you mis-paste this from
somewhere?) conditions of a 3-clause BSD-style license. Works under
these terms grant all the required freedoms under the DFSG.
> THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
> [...]
If they're going to swipe a 3-clause BSD-style license and substitute
"FileBrowser" above, they should also replace "REGENTS" in this
disclaimer (it appears twice).
With the caveats mentioned above, a work licensed under these terms
would be DFSG-free in my opinion.
--
\ "In the long run, the utility of all non-Free software |
`\ approaches zero. All non-Free software is a dead end." —Mark |
_o__) Pilgrim, 2006 |
Ben Finney
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