RE: Questions concerning S/390 OCO-modules
How is this related to Debian security?
Josh
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jochen Rohrig [mailto:jr@debian.s390.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 10:42 AM
> To: debian-security@lists.debian.org
> Cc: debian-s390@lists.debian.org
> Subject: Questions concerning S/390 OCO-modules
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I would like to package three network device drivers for IBM S/390 (see
> ITPs #108709, #108710, #108711).
>
> The device drivers are provided by IBM as OCO (object code only) modules
> (i.e. there are no sources available) and they are released under a
> special IBM "International License Agreement for Non-Warranted Programs"
> (to see the license agreement click on one of the
> "{lcs,qdio,qeth}-2.4.5-s390-2.tar.gz" hyperlinks on
> http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/linux390/dow
> nload_obj.html+).
>
> This raises a few questions:
>
> - Does the license allow distribution of the oco-drivers with Debian?
>
> From item 1. of the license agreement I derive that this is possible
> as long as
>
> a) Debian assures that the license agreement is distributed with the
> oco-driver and
>
> b) that the user explicitely agrees with the terms of the license
> (actually the user can not download the oco-drivers from the
> IBM web site without explicitely accepting the agreement).
>
> I think a) is definitely not a problem and b) could be realized by
> asking the user before installing the oco-driver whether (s)he agrees
> with the license (could probably be done in the preinstall-script?).
>
> - Are there any pitfalls in the license agreement I may have overseen?
>
> - Can the oco-drivers go into non-free?
>
> Since there is no source code available, the oco-drivers are not DFSG
> compliant and therefore could not go into "main" or "contrib". So,
> from the Debian POV, is it acceptable to put them into non-free?
> Citing from a footnote in the Debian Policy Manual (version 3.5.5.0,
> 2001-06-01, section "2.1.4 The non-free section"):
>
> "It is possible that there are policy requirements which the
> package is unable to meet, for example, if the source is
> unavailable. These situations will need to be handled on a
> case-by-case basis."
>
> Who finally decides whether such a package can go into non-free? What
> would be the alternative, if the package could not go into non-free
> (i.e. not be part of the distribution at all)?
>
> Since the oco-drivers are needed on S/390 to establish direct
> external network connections they play an essential role in making
> Debian usable on S/390. If we could not integrate them into the
> distribution, this would be a major problem. We could, e.g., not
> provide an official Debian install-ramdisk (that would have to go
> into non-free as well) that supports installation via one of the
> devices driven by the oco-drivers...
>
> Awaiting your comments!
>
> Jochen
>
>
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