Re: ecos license
On Tue, Jan 02, 2001 at 12:30:33PM +0100, Andreas Schuldei wrote:
> I had send a request for comment to this list some weeks before (
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0012/msg00096.html and here
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0012/msg00120.html). I guess
> there is some reason for not answering. If it was due to holidays and
> tight schedules, could you look into it again and let me know what his
> point of view is worth?
[debian-legal should probably have a FAQ page.]
On Fri, Dec 15, 2000 02:18:31AM +0000, Jonathan Larmour wrote:
> > The initial Author is restricting the user by the requirement to
> > give copies to or even notify him.
Andreas then claimed:
> It is a hoop you have to jump through, but it is not a restriction...
It's a restriction because if you are unable to meet this requirement
you are unable to distribute your modifications.
> it does not prevent you from making modifications. It is something you
> have to do if you do distribute modifications to eCos;
Note that the DFSG requires that a person must be able to freely
redistribute modifications.
> like the GPL says you have to distribute the *entire* source to a
> GPL'd program - is that a restriction incompatible with the Debian
> free software guidelines/open source definition too? Does the DFSG/OSD
> discriminate on the basis of who source gets distributed to?
The problem with this kind of license is that it makes an open-ended
ambiguous requirement of anyone who makes and redistributes modifications.
[1] The world is not completely interconnected, some countries are quite
poor, and we don't want to prevent poor people countries from being
free to make modifications to debian. [internet access can be quite
expensive in some areas, and this license may even require electronic
mechanisms which are more expensive than internet access.]
<violates>
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of
persons.
</violates>
[2] The license says nothing about what happens if it ever turns out that
the author is not immortal, nor if the indicated mechanism is broken in
some other fashion.
<violates>
1. Free Redistribution
The license of a Debian component may not restrict any party from
selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate
software distribution containing programs from several different
sources. The license may not require a royalty or other fee for such
sale.
</violates>
--
Raul
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