Bug#279757: Status of freewrl debian package?

[John Dalton <john.dalton@bigfoot.com>]

Hi John,

I've been attempting to build FreeWRL 1.18, with the
view to creating a Debian package using the FreeWRL 1.07
deb as a guide.  (I'm not volunteering to become maintainer,
but am trying to figure out if it is feasible for me
to volunteer.)

I'm getting lots of compile errors in the "JS" module
(Could I be missing a prerequisite library or development
package?)

I also notice that the JS package is released under
the Mozilla Public License (JS/LICENSE) with no second
license option.  The FSF has declared that the MPL is
incompatible with the GPL unless it is also dual
licensed under a GPL compatible license [1].

To my untrained legal eye, it appears that the FreeWRL
(GPL licensed) should not be linked with the JS module.
Thus even if a FreeWRL 1.18 package is sucessfully 
built debian will refuse to accept it.  These are the
sorts of things debian-legal care about a lot.

Is my reasoning correct please?  Please point out if I
am wrong, or if there is another way to get FreeWRL back
into Debian.  Is the JS package essential, or is there
a GPL compatible alternative?

Regards
John D


[1] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#MPL

On Fri, 2006-07-07 at 10:51 -0400, John A. Stewart wrote:
> John;
>
> I hope to find (again) someone to build and distribute FreeWRL
> on Debian and Ubuntu systems. 
...