Re: Can we pull KDE?
> Firstly, I see no evidence of a ``shrinking'' user base. Secondly,
> that is a bad basis to decide what we provide on our ftp site. Thirdly,
> apart from the botched copyright (which can be fixed with a clause to
> allow linking with QT), were there not issues about KDE linking
> GPL'ed code that they do not own the copyrights on with non-free
> libs? That last one, if true, is quite serious.
Let's assume for the sake of the discussion that someone builds a large
number of software packages, the base ones are linked with non-GNU software
and have a GNU license with an exception for the non-GNU software they are
linked with. They also release some ports of 3rd party GNU software which is
linked with the non-GNU software and of doubtful legal status.
Is there anything from stopping us from including the base packages with the
GNU license and exclusion clause and just ignoring the 3rd party GNU software
that isn't correctly licensed?
If we start excluding software based on the fact that the author may have
released other software packages outside of their license agreements then
where will we end up? Excluding software that's written by people who play
pirate compuer games?
>From my understanding of the situation the next release of KDE will have all
the base packages released under appropriate license agreements for inclusion
in non-free, this will comprise a fully functional set of KDE applications
and libraries. The fact that many other KDE ports of applications won't go
in non-free due to license issues should not be part of the decision process.
--
This is what they pay me for.
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