On Sun, 19 Dec 2004, Jan Minar wrote:
AFAICT, the only non-free section is:
<quote href="http://www.xdebug.org/license.php";>
4. Products derived from this software may not be called "Xdebug", nor
may "Xdebug" appear in their name, without prior written permission from
derick@xdebug.org.
</quote>
All I did was copy the PHP license and changed PHP to Xdebug... So it's
just as free as PHP. Actually, this is just a BSD license with the
advertising clause. Nothing non-free about it. Basically you can do
everything what you want, except creating a product using Xdebug and
naming it Xdebug.
From the PHP license (http://www.php.net/license/3_0.txt):
4. Products derived from this software may not be called "PHP", nor
may "PHP" appear in their name, without prior written permission
from group@php.net. You may indicate that your software works in
conjunction with PHP by saying "Foo for PHP" instead of calling
it "PHP Foo" or "phpfoo"
This is a PITA, 'cause this effectively prevents a package with the name
``libxdebug-php4'' in the Debian archive, bugfixes, and similar. The
sole effect of this clause will be You'll end up with a package/fork
with a completely different name, that is pulling diffs from Your xdebug
version. Kinda scratching Your ear with the wrong hand, isn't it?
For all I know Debian's package would not be a derived product... so I
don't see the problem. It's not a problem for PHP either, is it? Besides
that, the package name should be php-xdebug (it works in both php4 and
php5) as it's just a normal extension, like the mysql extension.
I did a little research on google, and it seems like some past versions
were licensed under the Artistic license. Its wording doesn't lead to
the abovementioned PITAs:
<quote href=http://www.opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license.php";>
3. You may otherwise modify your copy of this Package in any way, provided
that you insert a prominent notice in each changed file stating how and
when you changed that file [...]
</quote>
I don't want other people that use Xdebug to have to place a notice in
their software, and Xdebug was never under any other license than the
current one.
Would You consider altering the non-free clause, please?
I think the current license is totally fine, it's about as free as you
can get.