Re: Debian 8.1 Question
Tasha M Wenner <Tasha.M.Wenner@raytheon.com> writes:
> I work for Raytheon, reviewing Freeware and Open Source Software
> licenses to ensure our programs can and will comply with the
> restrictions and requirements set forth in the license terms. I have a
> request for Debian 8.1, and I am unable to truly determine the license
> that governs Debian. I saw where it is free and numerous licenses are
> provided, but nothing that says what actually covers the software.
> Could you please provide the full license for Debian?
Hi Tasha,
Debian as a distribution is a compilation of a wide variety of different
software packages, each of which has its own license. Debian does not put
a separate license on the compilation as such. Accordingly, there is no
single license; every work in Debian has its own, as documented in
/usr/share/doc/<package>/copyright.
What Debian does guarantee is that every package in the "main" archive
area (everything that is part of Debian proper, not the supplemental
distributions that use our infrastructure but are not part of Debian, such
as the non-free archive) has a license that satisfies the Debian Free
Software Guidelines. Those guidelines are documented here:
https://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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