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Re: Is NPL DFSG complient or not?



Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@datasync.com> writes:
>>> "Adam" == Adam P Harris <apharris@burrito.onshore.com> writes:
Adam> Personally, I consider it the package maintainer's duty to
Adam> comply with license minutae, not Debian's.  I'm positioned to
Adam> offer every version of some MPL'd s/w by virtue of CVS.

> 	You shall find that not all developers are in that happy
> position. And you shall also find, I think, that most developers
> were also not aware of this requirement when they sign up -- and I
> think this is a requirement that is too harsh on developers in
> general.

> 	Why can't Debian keep older versions?

I agree we should, but I also have to deal with present reality.

Adam> Since I can do that, I can comply with the license.  Therefore
Adam> Debian is in compliance with the license.  Therefore, the
Adam> package can go in "main".

> 	Umm, nope. If debian is ditributing it, Debian is responsible
> as well (when are things that easy?). I do not think passing the
> buck to individual developers is the way to go.

Waitaminnit.  I'm a registered Debian developer.  What is this
"debian" entity who is above me?  There is no such entity, legally.
As the official pkg maintainer, I think I can represent Debian for the
sake of this license for this package.

I agree it sucks that I have to do this (although it's not too much of
a hardship), I just see it as a necessary "gotcha" to the MPL.  People
packaging MPL pkgs should be aware of this, and willing to fill the
gap.  Otherwise, don't package it.

Your position, as I see it, is that MPL s/w cannot be packaged at all.
Which I don't think is a defensable position, just on the legal basis,
in my admittedly foggy, home-spun interpretation of it.  Please look
over the expat package (you'll need libxmltok1 also) and tell me
exactly *how* it is unable to go to main, i.e., what clause of the MPL
do I violate?

> 	manoj I lost my drive late last year, and my backup for /home
> was corrupt, so it is merely luck that I have my old CVS repository

Well, disaster is always possible.  So long as one defensably can say, 
"I made every reasonable effort to comply."

.....A. P. Harris...apharris@onShore.com...<URL:http://www.onShore.com/>


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