Re: Acceptable license restrictions for Non-Free sofware included in Web software package?
[Assuming you are not subscribed so CCing you]
On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 8:00 PM, Haakon Flage Bratsberg
<haakon.bratsberg@opera.com> wrote:
> Opera Software is investigating whether we should change our distribution
> policy to allow redistribution of our Opera Desktop web browser.
>
> We appreciate any advice on what you regard as acceptable license
> restriction for being included as No-Free software in your web software
> package <http://packages.debian.org/stable/web/>.
In short, it needs to be legally distributable and practical to distribute.
Some barriers to legal distribution include the copyright license,
trademarks and the patents owned by Opera.
Debian policy mentions some requirements for non-free in sections
2.2.3, 2.3 and 12.5:
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html#s-non-free
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html#s-pkgcopyright
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs.html#s-copyrightfile
Of particular concern for non-free web browsers (especially those
without source code) is security support. The Debian security team
does not support contrib/non-free, so you would need to either
backport security fixes to the versions available in stable/oldstable.
Alternatively you could keep one version in sid/unstable and regularly
upload backports to backports.org.
Once the package is legally and practically distributable, you'll need
to find someone willing to upload it to Debian:
http://people.debian.org/~mpalmer/debian-mentors_FAQ.html
Please also read the earlier threads about distributing Opera in Debian:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2009/08/threads.html#00107
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2007/09/threads.html#00088
http://lists.debian.org/debian-www/2001/07/threads.html#00260
Releasing Opera under a free software license would be far preferable of course.
--
bye,
pabs
http://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise
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