Re: OpenDivX license
On Thu, 25 Jan 2001, Sam TH wrote:
> Debian-legal has repeatedly held that requiring or prohibiting
> particular behavior as a condition of distributiing modified versions
> is in violation of the Fields of Endeavor clause of the DFSG.
But, that's not what the issue here is. The issue is not one of use -
presumably, you could pull down the OpenDiVX code, modify it in some
non-standards-conformant way, and use it. You could even distribute a
patch that makes the same modification - OpenDiVX would not be
DFSG-compatible if it prevented you from doing that. The question is of
rights to redistribution of modified versions.
> Thus, the OpenDivx license is in violation of the DFSG.
>
> References:
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal-0012/msg00109.html
>
> Among others. (for some reason the search engine for -legal isn't
> working so well).
The FastCGI license listed there attempted to limit use and modification,
which I'd argue definitely violates the DFSG. It does not violate the
"fields of endeavor" clause, though.
> How does that sound?
Saying "we've made the same mistake consistantly in the past" is no reason
to continue making it.
Brian
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