Re: Bug#4339: no free pine package available
On Thu, 29 Aug 1996, Marek Michalkiewicz wrote:
> Package: ftp.debian.org
>
> The current version of pine is in non-free because the copyright
> is not clear. We really should talk to the maintainers - perhaps
> we can get permission to distribute the package as part of the
> distribution? (FYI, it's in Red Hat, and those guys are quite
> careful about copyrights, too...)
The copyright is quite clear. You can not distribute this package for a
fee without first getting permission from the pine developers. According
to our policy this requires it go into non-free.
We have "talked" with the developers about changing this. In the next
version they changed the wording but the intent remained the same. I will
be working on the new release (when I can find some time) and I will check
the copyright again to see if things have improved.
>
> Even if we don't get permission (say, Red Hat paid them lots of
> $$$ to get a license), I think we should still distribute an
> older version (before the copyright change - I think it was 3.92)
> in the regular distribution (just like we do with ghostscript).
> Are there any problems with this?
>
The older version has some substantial bugs that have been fixed in later
releases. It is my understanding that we do not distribute buggy software
when the fix is available. The ghostscript example is, I think, a
temporary solution while a new release is awaited.
Unless someone with more authority than myself agrees with you, I am
disinclined to re-release the old version. Barring further instructions
from that direction, I will close this bug report.
Luck,
Dwarf
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