Re: Requirements for non-free?
frank@kuesterei.ch (Frank Küster) wrote:
> Steve Langasek <vorlon@netexpress.net> wrote:
> > On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 01:56:34PM +0100, Frank Küster wrote:
> >> But, most importantly, who is "The Debian Project", which would be
> >> granted the permission, in this sense? Everybody who runs a server with
> >> a *.debian.org DNS name? Or are there more complete mirrors than these?
> >> Or are the administrators of mirrors not responsible at all, but only
> >> ftp-master? To whom would a written letter have to be addressed?
> >
> > In effect, permission would have to be granted to our complete mirror
> > network, which includes many sites not under the .debian.org domain,
> > often run by people not directly affiliated with Debian.
>
> So I will ask him to use the term "complete Debian mirror
> network". Thank you very much,
As far as I know, there is only one piece of software in Debian with
Debian-specific permission: crafty. It's permission reads
Debian has received written permission in the form of an e-mail from
Professor Hyatt:
Robert M. Hyatt wrote:
>
> you have my permission to distribute this code just as you did
> before. I am only trying to stop people from copying the source
> and then calling it their own and entering it into chess tournamennts,
> something that has now happened at least 3 times...
This is a little vague, but it sure makes it seem like the crafty
author is not going to sue anyone for mirroring Debian.
Also, the "complete" mirror network is ill-defined. If I mirror
Debian for my local network, I am certainly not part of any official
Debian network. However, I think that people generally expect to be
able to do that. They may not be able to use everything in non-free,
but at least they can distribute it.
So I would try to get permission to make those modifications for
policy. It would be nice to just get rid of all Debian-specific
licenses, since they are rather troublesome for mirrors.
Regards,
Walter Landry
wlandry@ucsd.edu
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