Re: smssend - GPLv2 without SSL exception - What to ask to upstream ?
Didier Raboud <didier@raboud.com> writes:
> Hi debian-legal,
>
> smssend was removed from Debian due to licensing issues (#399685 and
> #487523). As far as I understand it, the problem is/was the following :
>
> * the code efectively links to OpenSSL (through skyutils2)
> * its licence is GPLv2+ _without_ OpenSSL exception
> * the upstream author was unreachable (email address is now dead - domain
> for sale and without MX).
>
> Assuming that :
> * I would be willing to handle upstream and Debian packaging
> * I would be able to contact the upstream author, either per email or per
> written mail.
>
> What should I ask the upstream author to do ?
>
> * Re-licence with OpenSSL exception => I would be able to "fork".
> * Make the code "Public domain" => ditto, but possible ?
> * Grant me or some{body,thing} the intellectual property => FSF, SPI ?
> => Would this organisation then be allowed to relicence as needed ?
>
> My guess is that the upstream author has forgotten for long his program and
> would prefer the "easiest", but which one is it ?
The first option seems easiest to me, if there is a single authorship
that is able to grant the re-licensing.
Using public domain may be complicated depending on the jurisdiction.
Granting some external body the ownership is nice, but probably requires
dead-tree papers to exchange hands, which doesn't seem like the
"easiest" choice.
Another option you could explore it to replace the code that uses
openssl with something else. Skytils2 doesn't seem to link to openssl
here?
Package: skyutils2
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.2.ds1-4)
So maybe there isn't a problem. I can't find the smssend source code so
I can't tell what it really does. This option may be the really
simplest depending on how much code that uses openssl.
/Simon
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