Re: DNSsafe license
On Wed, Mar 17, 1999 at 12:15:00PM -0700, Bdale Garbee wrote:
> >> The DNSsafe software cannot be used or distributed separately from the
> >> BIND software. You only have the right to use it or distribute it as
> >> a bundled, integrated product.
>
> Which section of the DFSG does this violate? It prevents me from packaging
> things such that the DNSsafe library is a separate entity from BIND, clearly.
> It means that someone else can't "borrow" the DNSsafe library from BIND without
> negotiating a different license with RSA. However, I fail to see how this
> restricts distribution of modified versions of BIND in any way.
>
> >> The DNSsafe software can ONLY be used to provide authentication for
> >> resource records in the Domain Name System, as specified in RFC 2065
> >> and successors. You cannot modify the BIND software to use the
> >> DNSsafe software for other purposes, or to make its cryptographic
> >> functions available to end-users for other uses.
>
> This is unfriendly to the free software community at large, to the extent that
> someone might want to use the DNSsafe code for some non-DNS purpose which this
> license would not cover, forcing them to negotiate a different license with
> RSA. But again, I don't see how this violates the DFSG... or how it in any
> way prevents distribution of BIND.
That might make BIND free in DFSG sense but relying anything non-free
(which DNSsafe is) would put BIND into contrib in the Debian sense
(non-free if you can't seperate BIND from DNSsafe).
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