On Thu, Feb 09, 2006 at 01:08:19PM +0200, Jari Aalto wrote: > >> Notes: > >> (*)As of 29 May 1999 the source code has changed from being public > >> domain to being free for non-commercial use. However, commercial users > >> are automatically granted a licence for any use of the snow code and > >> algorithms deployed before this date. > >> Also in what section would this software go: main, non-free? > > This seems to be the same question as the one you asked above? Perhaps you > > meant to ask first whether it's ok for Debian to distribute it. > Yes, this was the intention of the second question. > > Anyway, I don't see anything in this license that constitutes > > permission to redistribute; given that the author apparently also > > doesn't know what "public domain" means, I certainly wouldn't rely > > on perceived implicit permission to redistribute the code when > > putting it into non-free. > So the correct procedure, in order to submit the package to Debian, is > to get the Author to agree with a licence that's in par with DSFG. I'll > see what I can do. If you want it to be in main, it needs to be available under terms that meet the DFSG. If you just want it to be distributed from Debian ftp servers, a license that permits redistribution is sufficient; there's plenty of other "non-commercial use only" software that we distribute in non-free. > Btw, is DSFG close to OSI approved or are there list somewhere that > describes the difference? The Open Source Definition is based on the DFSG, but is applied very differently by the OSI. If you're going to recommend a license to an upstream in order to achieve DFSG compliance, it's usually easiest to go with either the GPL or X11/MIT depending on the goals of your upstream -- but given that your upstream has recently *withdrawn* various permissions that are required for Debian main, I don't know how much luck you'll have in getting them to again agree to a more permissive license. :) Cheers, -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. vorlon@debian.org http://www.debian.org/
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