Is this license free?
Hi!
[Please CC: replies to me as I'm not subscribed to debian-legal]
I'm new to debian and also don't have much experience regarding
licenses.
The file manager vfu (GPL) which I intend to package uses a library by
the same author. The library is staticaly linked to the program.
Now the library has got this "license-like Agreement"(author):
LICENSE AGREEMENT:
THIS LIBRARY IS USED BY AN APPLICATION ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED BY THE
AUTHOR. YOU CAN USE VSLIB UNDER THE LICENSE OF THIS APPLICATION
ONLY. YOU CANNOT USE THIS LIBRARY AS STANDALONE PRODUCT AND YOU
ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO RECEIVE IT IN THIS FORM. HOWEVER, IF YOU GOT
VSLIB IN OTHER CASE THAN MENTIONED ABOVE OR THE APPLICATION LICENSE
IS NOT CLEAR OR DOESN'T EXIST IN THE ORIGINAL PACKAGE YOU HAVE TO
AGREE TO THIS: YOU CAN DISTRIBUTE ORIGINAL LIBRARY ONLY IN THE FORM
YOU RECEIVE IT (IN THIS CASE YOU MAY NOT MODIFY ANY TEXT AND CODE
INCLUDED). YOU MAY USE THE ORIGINAL LIBRARY FOR YOUR APPLICATIONS
AS LONG AS YOUR APPLICATION OR ITS DOCUMENTS DISPLAY/CONTAIN
ORIGINAL COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND APPROPRIATE AUTHOR'S ADDRESS. YOU
MAY CHANGE VSLIB FOR DEBUG PURPOSES OR FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY
(I.E. YOU CANNOT DISTRIBUTE SOFTWARE THAT USES MODIFIED VSLIB)!
WELL, IF YOU NEED TO MODIFY AND USE VSLIB OR WANT TO USE VSLIB IN
A WAY THAT IS NOT MENTIONED HERE, YOU MUST REQUEST PERMISSION
FROM THE AUTHOR! THANK YOU!
I think we can skip the second part as I received it with an
application by the author. What nags me ist that the second and third
sentence kinda contradict each other.
So is this license free or not?
Also if you have any other comments on this license tell me and I'll
forward it to the author. I'm sure he'd be glad.
TIA
Mika
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