Re: [DebianGIS] Re: [Qgis-user] ECW Licence
On Mon, Jan 08, 2007 at 02:25:07PM +0100, Moritz Lennert wrote:
> On 08/01/07 14:10, Paolo Cavallini wrote:
> >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> >Hash: SHA1
> >
> >I have heard pepole at Debian has analyzed the licence, and they found
> >it almost compatible with free redistribution.
> >Canop somebody clarify this?
> >I think this is a good candidate for a FAQ
>
> [...]
>
> >>**This license applies to any use of the Software Product solely intended
> >>to develop or be distributed with products that are licensed under a
> >>license similar to a General Public License ("GPL") and at no charge to
> >>the public**.
>
> I am no expert, but I think that the "at no charge" in the above
> sentence might cause problems.
>
This is only a minor issue (avoidable using the non-free archive for distribution, which
is quite peculiar but true in order to avoid possible issues for people who sells CDs/DVSs
at a symbolic charge).
The main problem is that GDAL is not GPL and using an ECW-enabled GDAL is mandatory
in order to use the library with grass or mapserver.
So a gdal+ecw package is not distributable.
Also mapserver is not GPL and we had the same problem. In order to
distribute at least an ECW-enabled GRASS we need to distribute
an ECW-enabled GDAL, so we have currently no chances.
Of course IANAL applies :)
--
Francesco P. Lovergine
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