Bug#317359: kde: ..3'rd "Help"->"About $KDE-app" tab calls the GPL "License Agreement", ie; a contract.
Package: kde
Version: all
Severity: serious
Justification: ..bug filed on debian-policy, _should_ be in 2.1 and 12.5, is not.
...summarian conclusion: Just remove "Agreement" from those tabs, leave
"License" on them. ;o)
...subject 'n justification tells the story, further discussion can be
found on Groklaw and likely d-legal too, the GPL is a license because it
gives a permission to do something, such as distribution, on a certain
condition, "also distribute the source."
...no agreement, "just act on it or face the wrath of copyright law."
...Microsoft et al likes to confuse the legal issues by calling their
sales or renting contracts for their binaries, "End User License
Agreement". That very "Ok"-click agreement makes it a contract.
...contracts too can be enforced in court, "because we agreed."
...their long term strategic reason is profit from litigation etc
when they fail to compete.
To succeed, license and "license agreement" confusion is needed.
...unless we agree with Microsoft that the GPL is a contract, we should
clarify our position as above, just remove "Agreement" from those tabs,
leave "License" on them tabs, and add similar advice to sections 2.1
and 12.5 of the Debian Policy Manual.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i586)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.10-1-386
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)
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