Re: EULAs and the DFSG
On Wed, 4 Dec 2002, Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS wrote:
> I'm trying to think of a vaguely plausible use for an EULA with free
> software ...
I tried very hard last time this issue came up and failed to find any
where the software would still be considered free and the EULA had
any effect at all.
> Suppose you want to force people to publish the source when they use
> the software to drive a publicly accessible web server.
I think it would be unfree, and probably even undistributable by Debian in
non-free (we're not going to require an EULA to receive a package from a
mirror). Still, I'd be interested to see such a license, there are times
I think it may be appropriate and preferable to a completely proprietary
license.
> you can't enforce it with a pure copyright licence like the GPL because
> using the software in a web server is not an activity that requires
> permission from the copyright holder.
This is the main problem with such a desire. If it's not doable with a
pure copyright license, DFSG 7 is gonna be a problem. "The rights
attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is
redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by
those parties."
And if it's doable with a pure copyright license, the EULA is unnecessary.
--
Mark Rafn dagon@dagon.net <http://www.dagon.net/>
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