Re: Nedit 5.0 license questions
On Sat, 22 Nov 1997, Erik Andersen wrote:
> (This email refers to both
> http://www.debian.org/social_contract.html#guidelines and
> and ftp://ftp.fnal.gov/pub/nedit/v5_0/README )
>
> The Nedit 5.0 license has a couple of phrases that, depending on
> interpretation, could force it stay in the non-free part of Debian, or
> allow it to move to the main distribution.
>
> First, the license contains the phrase "Any distribution of the
> software available from this server shall be at no charge, except for
> nominal media and distribution costs." The word "nominal" could be
> interpreted to mean "whatever you can justify on the basis of media
> cost, duplication charges, time of people involved, and so on."
> (quoted from the Artistic license). If we interpret the license this
> way, then this phrase is in compliance with DFSG #1 -- Free
> Redistribution. It would be nice to have a clearer definition of
> what "nominal media and distribution costs." is supposed to mean.
In my interpretation, `at no charge, except for nominal media and
distribution costs' means that one can not make profit out of
_distributing_ the package (not if the package itself). This is a
violation of DFSG #1: `The license may not require a royalty or
other fee for such sale.'
> The other phrase that is difficult to interpret is the phrase: "To
> obtain a license to commercialize any of the software programs
> available from this server, contact FNAL's Office of Research and
> Technology Applications...".
That's a tough one. I suggest you contact them about whether they are
referring to `commercial products incorporating NEdit' or `commercial
products including NEdit'.
(I think someone selling a Debian CD-ROM for profit sells a product
including NEdit but he/she doesn't sell NEdit or a derived product.)
Perhaps this doesn't matter at all, since the part above already fails the
DFSG. Sorry.
Cheers,
Chris
-- Christian Schwarz
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Debian GNU/Linux? schwarz@debian.org, schwarz@mathematik.tu-muenchen.de
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