Re: Uploaded mirror 2.9-13slink15 (source all) to master
Dirk> * Adopt potato postinst which applies patches at installation time
Dirk> to be in line with somewhat peculiar mirror license.
Santiago> I don't want to be nitpick, but if patches have to be applied at
Santiago> installation time, then it's non-free.
I think I disagree, so does the rest of Debian, at least those who look at
potato, as we have done this since 2.9-6 released in August. We started this
when the ls-lR patches by Ian Maclaine-cross needed to be applied.
Mirror has a peculiar (but badly worded) license with a special clause for us
which enabled us to move it from non-free to main with the 2.9 release.
However, the author wants to prevent proliferation of modified mirror sources
and therefore asks for distribution of patches.
I am *absolutely no desire, time or energy* to re-enter this license
debate. If someone wants to discuss this with Lee, be my guest.
I attach the debian/copyright file below for reference.
Regards, Dirk
This is the Debian GNU/Linux prepackaged version of the mirror utility.
Mirror was written by Lee McLoughlin <lmjm@doc.ic.ac.uk>.
This package was put together by Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@qed.econ.queensu.ca>
from the sources obtained from
ftp://sunsite.org.uk/packages/mirror/mirror-2.9.tar.gz
Some small changes were made for this Debian GNU/Linux release; they are
fully documented in the file /usr/share/doc/mirror/changelog.Debian.gz.
The following copyright is provided in the file copyright.html:
Copyright © 1990 - 1998 Lee McLoughlin
Permission to use, copy, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted,
provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
supporting documentation.
Permission to modify the software is granted, but not the right to
distribute the modified code. Modifications are to be distributed as
patches to released version.
This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
and the following email [ from which some parts have been omitted ] provides
further clarification:
To: Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@debian.org>
CC: Lee McLoughlin <lmjm@doc.ic.ac.uk>, Adam Heath <doogie@debian.org>
Subject: Re: forwarded message from Adam Heath
Date: Mon, 06 Jul 1998 10:10:28 +0000
[...]
> I had asked in you in an email [...] if it is okay if Debian distributes a
> version of mirror in the following form:
>
> mirror_2.9.orig.tar.gz Original sources, would be md5sum-identical
> to yours but aren't due to the fact that I
> have to re-tar them in a subdirectory to make
> it comply with Debian's packaging tools
>
> mirror_2.9-1.diff.gz All of Debian's patches
>
> mirror_2.9-1.dsc A textfile with md5sums used to verify these
> files
>
> mirror_2.9-1_all.deb The Debian package
>
> Now, if we are to apply such a patch to the mirror script in the .deb file
> (and hence in the .diff.gz), is that okay with you? To be clear, this would
> mean that our mirror.pl would be different from your mirror.pl, but the
> changes would be most clearly documented in the .diff.gz and distributed also
> as patches to the released version. I find your copyright file ambigous, in
> particular the paragraph
>
> Permission to modify the software is granted, but not the right to
> distribute the modified code. Modifications are to be distributed as
> patches to released version.
I think I got the wording from you! Or at least some other Debian
package you pointed me to!
>
> Our scheme would be at the same time modified code, and patches to the
> released version.
>
> I would be glad if you could clarify whether this gets a nod up or down from
> you.
The above scheme is OK with me.
[...]
--
Lee McLoughlin. Phone: +44 171 594 8388
IC-Parc, Imperial College, Fax: +44 171 594 8432
South Kensington, London. SW7 2AZ. UK. Email: lmjm@icparc.ic.ac.uk
--
According to the latest figures, 43% of all statistics are totally worthless.
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