Re: PHP-Nuke: A calling for votes
"GPL", not "GLP". (I assumed it was a typo before, but you're
consistently spelling it incorrectly.)
On Mon, Mar 10, 2003 at 10:15:56AM +0100, hec@debian.org wrote:
> So now, we can discuss the rest of the matter. But keep in mind the
> precedent point, please.
Could you repeat what the "precendent point" is? I missed it.
(inserted important but omitted quotes)
> Richard Braakman wrotes:
>>Note that this is not so much a legal question as a question of
>>software freedom. The only legal argument that would apply would
>>go like this:
>
> > 1. The GPL is DFSG-free by definition
> > 2. The author is interpreting GPL 2(c) in a legally valid way
> > 3. Therefore, the condition is also DFSG-free
>
> That's my point of view. We have judge Mr.F.Burzi and found him guilty.
> But he is legally innocent. We have decided this way due to our moral
> conception of free software. We already have found a bug on GLP, as
> Richard pointed before. So we need a new version of GLP (at least
> something positive coming out from this flame).
That's just a possible argument; there's no consensus on these points.
Most directly, there's no consensus on #2. The opposite, actually; I
don't recall seeing anyone actually asserting that this interpretation
of the GPL is correct at all. (David, could we get a position on the
"must attach GPL blurb to every output page" interpretation from the
FSF, so we can resolve this question?)
If #2 is incorrect (and the interpretation is simply bogus), then there
are lots of problems (as he's apparently not the sole copyright holder)
and the package should probably not be in non-free, either.
If it's unclear, and the author is simply stretching the definition in
a non-free way, then we want to discourage that interpretation. (However,
this is a social reason not to distribute it, not a legal one, and I'd
just hope that you're feeling responsible. :)
If it's unclear, or if it is, in fact, a reasonable interpretation, then
you're probably right in that there's a license bug, too, but we aren't
there yet.
(#1 is also questionable, but that's a tangent that's been discussed
recently--search recent archives for "grandfather"--so I won't go there.)
> But in the meantime
> phpnuke should have the right to stay in main, as it it technically GLP
> compilant, we liked or not.
No software has any "right" to be in main to begin with.
--
Glenn Maynard
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