Re: Is public domain software DFSG-compliant?

[Karl Fogel <kfogel@red-bean.com>]

Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org> writes:
> On Thu, May 05, 2005 at 06:51:15PM -0500, Karl Fogel wrote:
>> Is public domain software DFSG-compliant?
>> 
>> Sorry if this is a FAQ; I couldn't find the answer anywhere on the
>> Debian web site.  I am asking after reading this text on
>> http://www.debian.org/intro/free:
>> 
>>    "Truly free software is always free. Software that is placed in the
>>     public domain can be snapped up and put into non-free programs.
>>     Any improvements then made are lost to society. To stay free,
>>     software must be copyrighted and licensed."
>
> Why does that page say this?  This is the FSF's agenda, not Debian's,
> and claims that the X11 and other simple, permissive licenses are not
> "truly free", which is ridiculous.  I don't think an "intro to Free
> Software" on Debian's site should be making such a statement.
>
> There may be practical problems with public domain in some jurisdictions,
> but that aside, it, as well as permissive, non-copyleft licenses, are
> certainly "truly"- and DFSG-free.

Thanks for the responses (from you and Barak Pearlmutter).  Now it
seems clear that public domain softwaer is DFSG-compliant, despite
what the above page says.

A suggestion:

If Debian internally has a list of licenses considered DFSG-compliant
(and others DFSG-noncompliant) by the project, it might be good to
publish that list on a web page.  The FSF does something similar at:

   http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

and the OSI likewise at:

   http://www.opensource.org/licenses/

I didn't find any similar list posted by Debian.  If there were one,
public domain status could be included on it.

>> Please CC me on any responses; I'm not subscribed to this list.
>
> Please set your Mail-Followup-To header accordingly.

Thanks.  I didn't know about that; now I've started using it.

-Karl