Re: [PHP-QA] Debian and the PHP license
On 30/07/14 21:07, Thorsten Glaser wrote:
> Pierre Joye wrote:
>
>> As Rasmus, and I, said numerous times, the PHP License is a perfectly
>> valid choice as long as the software are distributed under *.php.net.
>
> This reading clearly fails DFSG#3 and OSD#3 at the very least, and makes
> *all* software using the PHP Licence non-free, because redistribution of
> derived works is only permitted from *.php.net which is clearly inaccep-
> table. This makes not just forking the software impossible but also dis-
> tribution of binaries made from modified sources, for example.
I agree that this would violate DFSG#3.
However, I'm not convinced that the PHP license is only valid if the
software is distributed under *.php.net. Nowhere within the license does
it say that the program being licensed is PHP software, so the PHP
Group's definition of PHP software is irrelevant.
> On the other hand, my own reading of the PHP Licence is that we may not,
> in fact, distribute (binaries of) modified versions of PHP software (the
> interpreter as well as everything else under that licence), period - but
> that distributing the original source alongside patches is okay (e.g. as
> 3.0 (quilt) source package). Since Debian isn't distributing source pak-
> kages, this does not help us. A written permission from group@php.net is
> not helpful either, because of DFSG#8.
Good point. (I think you're referring to section 4; correct me if I'm
wrong.) This would make PHP-licensed software *with PHP in the title*
non-free until rebranded, like firefox was until rebranded to iceweasel.
This would not, however, make the license non-free, it would just make
for some annoying rebranding, which should be much more manageable.
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