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Re: No source code for wesnoth-music



On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:58:59 -0500 Guilherme de Siqueira Pastore wrote:

> On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 10:38:34PM +0200, Mark Weyer wrote:
[...]
> > but anybody else breaches the GPL 2 or 3 by not offering source code.
> 
> ... but I tend to disagree at this point. Despite the possibility of
> considering these file types as source code for the relevant purposes under
> the circumstances, I am not sure we can talk about license violation from a
> legal standpoint if the infringed requirement is that of redistribution of
> something the redistributor never received (and, in this case, something
> even the copyright holder could not provide, because it does not exist). This
> should, at the very least, constitute grounds for exemption of liability.

I am not convinced: if someone releases a work under the GPL without
making the corresponding source available, nobody else really has the
true permission to redistribute, as the license requires
re-distributors to make source available, but they cannot, since they
do not have it in the first place.

Excluding cases where a re-distributor creates a modified version using
what he/she has received: in those cases, the source for the modified
version is truly the form that the modifier chose to make modifications
to the original work.

[...]
> As for a possible DFSG violation, assuming from the considerations above that
> the right to redistribute is not impaired, the last (and obviously not least)
> remaining issue would be the requirement that "[t]he program must include
> source code". In this context, I think such requirement is widely open to
> interpretation, and I tend to think that considering wesnoth-music non-free
> would be counter-productive and inconsistent with the principles outlined in
> the Social Contract and with the remainder of the DFSG.
> 
> That, however, is merely a personal opinion, of which I am actually not quite
> convinced. I look forward to hearing other people's comments on the issue.

There was a GR in 2004 to clarify the social contract, in order to make
it clear that the DFSG apply to all works (in Debian main), not just
executable programs.
Hence I think the agreed upon interpretation is that music and images
must include source code.


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