Re: Clarification regarding PHP License and DFSG status
Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org>
> On Wed, Dec 21, 2005 at 04:39:41PM -0500, Charles Fry wrote:
> > My big concern at this time is not how Debian comes down on the PHP
> > License with respect to PHP (and by implication the Pear Group).
> >
> > I am just trying to insist that if we accept this license as valid for
> > PHP, then I don't see how we can reject it for use by the Pear Group.
> > Does that part sound reasonable?
>
> Nobody should be claiming that a license is free for the original
> PHP, but not when anyone else uses it. We require permission to
> modify the work, and the result of doing so is something other than
> PHP, by someone other than the Pear Group. If you can't modify the
> work and have something that is still free, the original is not
> free, either.
I think you over-generalised the claim. That difference is not when
PHP Group is not a licensor, but when they are not a contributor.
The PHP licence could be OK for any software which has PHP Group
contribution (regardless who is licensing later), but would require
lying about other software. So, it is possible for others to use it
"freely" when PHP Group was involved upstream and avoid the problem
you describe.
Please leave the PHP licence bugs open for software which has no
contribution by the PHP Group (which seems true for one or two pear
packages IIRC). I don't think the PHP licence can be accepted as
always-OK for others yet.
--
MJR/slef
My Opinion Only: see http://people.debian.org/~mjr/
Please follow http://www.uk.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct
Reply to: