Bug#854209: Rewritting the license is not relicencing
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 11:29:58PM +0100, Bastien ROUCARIES wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 5:56 PM, Luke W Faraone <lfaraone@debian.org> wrote:
> > On Sun, 12 Mar 2017 21:28:30 +0100 Bastien ROUCARIES <roucaries.bastien@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Mike Hommey ask me to remove a lintian warning about a unicode file.
> >>
> >> I appear that chrome chan
> > ge the license text because unicode changed
> >> the license of distribued files.
> >>
> >> But the relicense is not retroactive and unicde consorcium removed
> >> before relicencing the offending file.
> >
> > Can you clarify which files specifically are in question?
> >
> > Just to make sure I understand, the order of operations was:
>
>
> See https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=823100
>
> > 1. Unicode distributed a project under a non-free license
> Yes it was base/ConvertUTF.c and base/ConvertUTF.h. But whole
> project was non free in this epoc.
>
> License was:
>
> This source code is provided as is by Unicode, Inc. No claims are made
> as to fitness for any particular purpose. No warranties of any kind are
> expressed or implied. The recipient agrees to determine applicability
> of information provided. If this file has been purchased on magnetic or
> optical media from Unicode, Inc., the sole remedy for any claim will be
> exchange of defective media within 90 days of receipt.
> .
> Limitations on Rights to Redistribute This Code
> .
> Unicode, Inc. hereby grants the right to freely use the information
> supplied in this file in the creation of products supporting the
> Unicode Standard, and to make copies of this file in any form for
> internal or external distribution as long as this notice remains
> attached.
>
> At the very least, this license does not grant any permission
> to modify the files (thus failing DFSG#3). Moreover, the license grant
> seems to attempt to restrict use to "products supporting the Unicode
> Standard" (thus failing DFSG#6).
>
> > 2. Unicode removed some of those files from the project
> Yes unicode removed this file
>
>
> Unfortunately, upstream seems to have _dropped_ the code due to being
> buggy and unmaintained since 2004, according to
> http://unicode.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=90 - summarized at
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2685004/why-does-unicode-org-no-longer-offer-a-reference-utf-8-16-32-converter
>
>
> > 3. Unicode changed the license of the project to be DFSG-free
>
> Yes but only to file offered to be downloaded on unicode website (and
> well after 2004):
> If Unicode Inc has published new versions of the two files in
> more recent times, the updated versions should be under the
> current unicode.org public license, as explained in
> http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html#Exhibit1
>
> Therefore both files wer not relicenced....
See https://bugs.chromium.org/p/google-breakpad/issues/detail?id=270#c6
Moreover, the license agreement for data files and software was added in
2004: https://web.archive.org/web/20040402165154/http://www.unicode.org:80/copyright.html
and the files have been available (so under the new agreement) until 2009:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090529064329/http://www.unicode.org:80/Public/PROGRAMS/CVTUTF/
Mike
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