On Mon, 2003-03-10 at 05:01, Glenn Maynard wrote: > > Richard Braakman wrotes: > >>Note that this is not so much a legal question as a question of > >>software freedom. The only legal argument that would apply would > >>go like this: > > > > > 1. The GPL is DFSG-free by definition > > > 2. The author is interpreting GPL 2(c) in a legally valid way > > > 3. Therefore, the condition is also DFSG-free > > > > That's my point of view. We have judge Mr.F.Burzi and found him guilty. > > But he is legally innocent. We have decided this way due to our moral > > conception of free software. We already have found a bug on GLP, as > > Richard pointed before. So we need a new version of GLP (at least > > something positive coming out from this flame). > > That's just a possible argument; there's no consensus on these points. > > Most directly, there's no consensus on #2. The opposite, actually; I > don't recall seeing anyone actually asserting that this interpretation > of the GPL is correct at all. (David, could we get a position on the > "must attach GPL blurb to every output page" interpretation from the > FSF, so we can resolve this question?) I'm not allowed to give you this without consulting people higher up than me. I'll send the following mail to RMS, Eben, and Brad, and tell Debian-legal when I can get an actual conclusion I've chosen Scoop here because I actually have no idea what PHPNuke does. Subject: GPL2 (2)(c) interpretation Consider Scoop, which is a web-based news and bulletin board system. Visitors to sites running Scoop may create accounts, log in, post stories (which are then voted onto the front page), post comments, post journal entries, etc. Comment threads, stories, etc within a Scoop site may be bookmarked and returned to. But normally, people visit a Scoop site by going to the front page (for an example, http://www.kuro5hin.org). In the footer of each page, Scoop places a notice which does not actually, but might in an alternate universe, look like: Copyright 2000 - 2003 Kuro5hin.org Inc. The Scoop Engine that runs this site is freely available, under the terms of the <a href="gpl.html">GPL</a>. There's no warranty. Under the terms of (2)(c), can I (1) insert <!-- and --> on either end of it, thus making it into a comment? The info will be available, but not obvious. (2) Remove it from every page except the front page> (3) Instead of displaying it to people who visit the web page, display it to the console of the server it's running on? I'll report back what I hear to debian-legal. -- -Dave Turner Stalk Me: 617 441 0668 "On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock." -Thomas Jefferson
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