Re: GnuTLS in Debian
On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 10:54:49AM -0800, Russ Allbery wrote:
> There is no way to change the OpenSSL license. The project doesn't use
> copyright assignment and the number of contributors is far too large to be
> able to track them all down and get their permission.
I do not believe that either of these statements is categorically true.
If I recall correctly, similar things were said about freeing Moria and
Angband, then it turned out that it would have been trivial to contact
Robert Koeneke if anyone had actually bothered to try.
The OpenSSL license terms are terrible. That, the awful build system,
the awful API, and some of the crypto are reasons that we should not use
OpenSSL at all for anything. But instead we run around harming free
software by making GPL exceptions and pretending that OpenSSL is good
and tolerable.
As an intellectual property abolitionist, I'll refrain from weighing in
on the ethical issues of adhering to stupid license terms.
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