Re: GPLed software and OpenSSL
On Wed, 2002-05-29 at 13:01, Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS wrote:
> Steve Langasek <vorlon@netexpress.net>:
> > In the legal world, wording makes all the difference. The GPL
> > specifically talks about code that's distributed *with* the GPLed
> > binary, not about code distributed *by the same people as* the GPLed
> > binary, and we have no reason to believe that this distinction was
> > unintentional. Many vendors of proprietary Unices (e.g., Sun) seem to
> > already be counting on the fact that it is not.
>
> This seems very dodgy. Firstly, you're claiming that main does not
> accompany non-us, which is very hard to justify as it's all on the
> same servers and non-us doesn't make much sense without main.
The fact that non-us doesn't make sense without main isn't really
relevant. We're trying to fit into the GPL exception for system
libraries; if we can fit, then the dependency on the OpenSSL "system
library" isn't a problem.
As for not accompanying non-us: In fact, non-us doesn't accompany the
main archive anywhere. There is separate infrastructure for maintaining
Debian proper and non-us, and at the moment that anything is
distributed, it is done separately. The only place they exist together
is on some mirror sites, and even there, they must be mirrored
separately and are usually treated as different sites.
> Secondly, it doesn't really conform with the DFSG as you are forcing
> everyone else to maintain this fictional division between main and
> non-us. On the other hand, if you would move the violating packages
> into contrib, perhaps it would make more sense.
Putting them into contrib would be much worse, as contrib is provided on
the same Debian servers, is processed with the same infrastructure, and
is mirrored at the same time and in the same process as main. By
contrast, mirrors of non-us must set up separate procedures for Debian
proper and non-us, which lends credence to the idea that they are
separate.
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