Re: Unlicensed data is *not distributable*

[Nathanael Nerode <neroden@twcny.rr.com>]

Matt Zimmerman wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 30, 2004 at 02:02:55AM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote:
> 
>> Please file a bug against any package containing data which is not
>> clearly public domain and does not have a valid license; it is not
>> distributable.
>> I know that's horrible, but that's the law.  :-P  This is the change from
>> a 'conditional' to an 'unconditional' copyright regime.
> 
> Even if our packages are perfect license-wise (and they aren't), Debian
> distributes data which is not contained in any package.  Searching a
> Debian CD for things which are not .deb, .dsc, .orig.tar.gz, etc. is a
> good start.

There's not actually that much which isn't in packages, is there?  Under the
current debian-cd / debian-installer design, pretty much all of it comes
from packages, even the parts that are distributed in different forms.

> I'll grant you the pleasure of examining each of the thousands of files in
> the archive and determining whether it is an "original work of authorship"
> (US) or whatever criteria applies in any other country where Debian is
> distributed (a large number).

There's a reason this duty was distributed to package maintainers.

-- 
There are none so blind as those who will not see.