Bug#161603: packaging util.concurrent for Debian

[Mark Wielaard <mark@klomp.org>]

Dear Doug Lea,

You wrote:

> Warning: I hate dealing with these kinds of issues, so you may need to
> nag me about it :-)

A while ago I wrote to you about some legal issues which prevented the
use of util.concurrent and the upcomming java.util.concurrent
implementation in Free Software projects such as the GNU Compiler for
Java or the core java libraries provided by GNU Classpath that are used
by a couple of free VM implementations. It also prevented the packaging
of the util.concurrent package for Debian.

It would be highly appreciated if you could look at the issues raised in
the original message. They might be easy to clear up when you could
forward them to your Sun contact.

I would also like to offer again to rewrite any classes based on the GNU
Classpath collection implementations if necessary. But if the new
java.util.concurrent implementation can be made free from the start that
would of course be highly preferred.

On Tue, 2002-10-15 at 22:05, Mark Wielaard wrote:
> On Sat, 2002-10-12 at 01:30, Doug Lea wrote:
> > 
> > Good news about licensing. Sun offered the following replacement
> > language, which I believe removes everyone's concerns. Sorry again
> > to lose formatting in paste from pdf...
> 
> Sorry to respond so late, but it took some time to get in touch with
> someone that could evaluate this legal language. (Those legal sentences
> make my head hurt...)
> 
> Two concerns were raised with this new language.
> 
> Firstly the right to sublicense (by you to other people) does not
> contain the right to create derivate works of the Java Software (only
> the right to use, reproduce and distribute are given). This seems to
> mean that you are allowed to create derivative works but that you can
> not grant the same to people that get the derivate Java Software from
> you.
> 
> Secondly the disclaimer says that the software is not licensed and
> intended to be used in nuclear facilities. Discrimination against the
> use of software in certain fields or organizations makes the software
> non-free.
> 
> If you could try to clear these issues up with the Sun lawyer that would
> be highly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mark Wielaard