Re: licensing confusion
>>>>> "MH" == Marek Habersack <grendel@debian.org> writes:
MH> It's simple - how is it possible that most licenses
MH> used by free software are incompatible [1] with GPL and yet
MH> debian mixes them in many projects it distributes (like
MH> mozilla, php, apache to name the most prominent ones). What
MH> are the rules to freely (as in freedom) use the other licenses
MH> which are incompatible with GPL and to remain compatible with
MH> GPL without being forced to use it in your own projects which
MH> you don't want to license under GPL/LGPL? Does one have to
MH> obtain some kind of exemption from any of the "sides"?
How did you get an @debian.org address without knowing the answer to
that question? Aren't you supposed to know and understand the Free
Software Guidelines and principles of Free Software before getting
your DD badge?
http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
Putting two pieces of software in the same distribution does not make
them licensed the same way. Each package in Debian has its own
license. If GPL'd software contaminated other works just by being in
the same distribution, it wouldn't pass guideline 9. But it explicitly
doesn't. From the GPL:
"In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the
Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on
a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the
other work under the scope of this License."
Sorry I'm talking down to you, but seriously: you should know
this. It's possible, though, that I'm misinformed and missing your
point. Are you perhaps saying that there are Debian custom derivatives
of Mozilla, PHP, and Apache that actually incorporate GPL'd or LGPL'd
software?
~ESP
--
Evan Prodromou
evan@debian.org
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