On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:07:56 +0200 Jakub Wilk <jwilk@debian.org> wrote: > * Neil Williams <codehelp@debian.org>, 2010-04-28, 17:48: > >> After checking a scattering of random packages, I happened across > >> one example of this already in Debian testing: socat. It is > >> GPLv2-only, and is linked against GPLv3 libreadline6 in testing. > >> (filed bug 579494). > > > >Umm: > > > >http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/s/socat/current/copyright > > > > 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. > > I would assume that's rather a mistake in debian/copyright. README is > very clear: Why assume an error? The COPYING file in the source is GPLv2 or later *and* the source code refers to COPYING, not README. /* source: xiowrite.c */ /* Copyright Gerhard Rieger 2001-2008 */ /* Published under the GNU General Public License V.2, see file COPYING */ That isn't a full licence declaration, those seeking a full declaration are explicitly referred to COPYING and COPYING says GPLv2 or later. neil@dwarf:socat-1.7.1.2$ grep COPYING *.c|wc -l 65 The Debian maintainer knows the package best and debian/copyright is the expression of the maintainer. I'm just offering my view of the source that it would appear to be GPLv2 or later. > | 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, version 2 of the License I would argue that this is an inadvertent abbreviation in a document not intended to be the authoritative licence document - the source code itself refers to COPYING as that file. It could be clarified, of course - I'd suggest that if the bug is left open it should be downgraded to wishlist or at most minor and then forwarded upstream so that the licence information can be specified clearly in the source code files themselves. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/ http://e-mail.is-not-s.ms/
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