Re: license question and problems
Hi,
Thanks for all the helpful replies.
On Wed, Jun 13, 2001 at 05:49:17PM +0200, Uwe Hermann wrote:
> Hi Hussain,
>
> On Wed, Jun 13, 2001 at 04:18:38PM +0100, Muhammad Hussain Yusuf wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I have an ITP for a program (gdis, which is GPL) which requires another
> > program (babel) whose license is a bit vague, at least to me.
>
> > I intend to create binary for babel from the babel source in a sub
> > directory of my package.
>
> Why don't you package babel in an extra *.deb and you gdis in another
> one? Is there any special reason for the merging you intend?
>
Just convenience and because babel is very specialized and (?) unlikely
to be of interest in itself.
But maybe two .debs is the best way to proceed.
>
> > The license for babel is:
> >
> >
> > This software is provided on an "as is" basis, and without warranty of
> > any kind, including but not limited to any implied warranty of
> > merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
> >
> > In no event shall the authors or the University of Arizona be liable for
> > any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages
> > arising from use or distribution of this software. The University of Arizona
> > also shall not be liable for any claim against any user of this program by
> > any third party.
> >
> > (That's it!)
>
>
> First of all, IANDD and IANAL, but here we go anyway...
>
> > My questions are:
> >
> > 1) Is the above license OK for Debian?
>
> It cannot go into main, because it doesn't explicitely allow
> modification (among others)... It can't go into contrib either, for the
> same reason.
>
> And, yes, the license is really quite vague...
>
That's all I could find: it's in the source tarball and other info about
babel gives no real license such as BSD etc.
> It doesn't even explicitely allow redistribution, so it probably cannot
> go into non-free either (?)
>
> IT says "[...] use or distribution of this software."
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> I doubt that this is an explicit permission to distribute the software,
> but I'm not sure, here.
>
>
> > 2) If so, is it OK to go ahead if I do not get a reply from the authors?
>
> Depends. If you put it into non-free it's OK, I guess...
> (Only if it's allowed to go into non-free, of course)
>
>
> > 3) The new gdis package also depends on the Debian povray package, which is
> > in non-free: I assume that my gdis package will therefore also have to go
> > in non-free?
>
> If your package could otherwise go into main, but depends on something
> in non-free or in contrib, your package must go into contrib...
>
>
>
> (CC'ed debian-devel, that's where it belongs to...)
>
> HTH, Uwe.
> --
> :---------------- Uwe Hermann <uh1763@hermann-uwe.de> ---------------:
> | http://htsserver.sourceforge.net -- Holsham Traders |
> | http://unmaintained.sourceforge.net -- Unmaintained Free Software |
> :-------------------- http://www.hermann-uwe.de --------------- :wq -:
>
>
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