Re: octave-plplot: intention to package

["John W. Eaton" <jwe@bevo.che.wisc.edu>]

On 16-Oct-1998, Joao Cardoso <jcardoso@inescn.pt> wrote:

| I agree with the enclosed copyright notice.
| Octave's author also has no objections.
| 
| Please correct, if still possible, my e-mail address: <jcardoso@inescn.pt>

| > The files in the source distribution have no copyright notice, but by
| > explicit request from the author, the following terms apply:
| >
| >     Copyright (C) 1998 Joao Cardoso.  All rights reserved.
| >
| >     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
| >     under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
| >     Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
| >     option) any later version. [In Debian systems, see file
| >     /usr/doc/copyright/GPL.]
| >
| >     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
| >     WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
| >     MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
| >     General Public License for more details.

Oops, I noticed a the following problem before, but then forgot about
it when I actually replied.

I do have an objection to this copyright statement.  I am not a
lawyer, but I think that if you are releasing something under the
terms of the GPL, you should NOT write `All rights reserved' because
you are not claiming to have the exclusive right to distribute (one of
the rights that copyright allows you to reserve for yourself alone).

So please remove the `All rights reserved.' statement.

Also, the text should just read

  Copyright (C) 1998  Joao Cardoso

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  (at your option) any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  GNU General Public License for more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
  02111-1307, USA.

exactly as the appendix to the GPL says.  I suppose adding a line
about where to find the text of the GPL on Debian systems would be ok,
but I would add that as a separate paragraph after the information
about how to obtain a copy from the FSF.  I would write:

  Users of Debian systems may also find a copy of the GNU GPL in the
  file /usr/doc/copyright/GPL.

Do other Debian packages that are supposed to be released under the
terms of the GPL include `All rights reserved' in their copyright
notices?  If so, can you tell me which ones?

Thanks,

jwe