On Sun, 8 Jan 2012 21:22:38 +0100 chrysn wrote: > hello debian-legal, Hello chrysn! > > as a part of my intent to package openscad (#583476), i want to ask you > for help with the package's licensing. Thanks for trying hard to solve this issue in the best possible way. > > as outlined in the itp, the package is gpl-2+ itself and depends heavily > on libcgal, which is qpl and thus in non-free, which sends openscad to > contrib. Have you tried to persuade libcgal copyright holder(s) to re-license libcgal under the GNU GPL v2 or later, or under the GNU LGPL v2.1, or, at least, to dual-license it under the QPL and one GPLv2-compatible license? This much more radical approach could make openscad suitable for inclusion in Debian main! Now *that* would be something really worth fighting for! ;-) [...] > License: GPL-2+ with CGAL exception > This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it > under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free > Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) > any later version. > . > As a special exception, you have permission to link this program > with the CGAL library and distribute executables, as long as you > follow the requirements of the GNU GPL in regard to all of the > software in the executable aside from CGAL. > . > This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT > ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or > FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for > more details. > . > A copy of the GNU General Public License can be found in > /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2. This CGAL-linking exception seems to be a bit incomplete. Shouldn't there be also the permission to drop the exception? Please see the phrasing recommended by the FSF for the GPL v2 + linking exception: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLIncompatibleLibs -- http://www.inventati.org/frx/frx-gpg-key-transition-2010.txt New GnuPG key, see the transition document! ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == CA01 1147 9CD2 EFDF FB82 3925 3E1C 27E1 1F69 BFFE
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