Re: [PHP-QA] Debian and the PHP license

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Riley Baird <BM-2cVqnDuYbAU5do2DfJTrN7ZbAJ246S4Xix@bitmessage.ch>
writes:

> On 30/07/14 10:21, Ben Finney wrote:
> > Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@lerdorf.com> writes:
> >> I see absolutely no problem with PHP projects distributed from
> >> *.php.net carrying the PHP license. The license talks about "PHP
> >> Software" which we define as software you get from/via *.php.net.
[…]

> It could just as easily require that any redistributions must have the
> acknowledgement "This project contains giraffes, which are a type of
> fish", and the software could still be considered free.
>
> If you're worried about having to include false information with your
> software product, you could say something along the lines of "The
> below notices are untrue, but are requirements of various FOSS
> licenses".

You're advocating a position, then, that the PHP license can require
recipients to make false, and even nonsensical, claims, and that this is
not a problem to be addressed by improving the license terms.

Is that the position of the PHP Group: that a requirement for the
recipient to make false claims is “absolutely no problem” of the
license?

[…]

> When applied to software that is not available from *.php.net, the
> license terms may not be sensible, but they still can be followed.

Is the fact they can't sensibly be followed not a problem to be
addressed by improving the license terms?

> The only problem that I can see with the license is the phrase:
>
> This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
> individuals on behalf of the PHP Group.

Thanks, I agree that's a problem. It doesn't belong in the license (it
has nothing to do with the permissions granted to the recipient), but
rather belongs in the copyright statement for the specific work.

The license would be improved – made clearer and more generally
applicable – by removing that clause from the license and placing it
instead in the copyright statement.

-- 
 \             “I put contact lenses in my dog's eyes. They had little |
  `\   pictures of cats on them. Then I took one out and he ran around |
_o__)                                      in circles.” —Steven Wright |
Ben Finney