Hi Faben,
On Wed, Feb 11, 2015 at 10:56:04AM +0100, Fabien André wrote:
> I saw your ITP of libphidget21 and the discussions that followed. Links
> from https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=673098#5 suggest
> that you have done most of the job but unfortunately they are broken.
>
> Is the packaging code still available somewhere ?
Yes, it is still available here [1]. Please bear in mind that I haven't
looked at in number of years and will need refreshing. The comments
below might also be no longer relevant, but I suspect not.
> Also, could you elaborate on copyright concerns with upstream code raised
> by Nicholas Breen?
Relevant excerpts from Nicholas' mail:
* None of the Phidgets code files have copyright information in the headers,
except for a couple that have something other than LGPL notices, such as
examples/phidgetsbclist.c and most files in Java/com/phidgets ("All rights
reserved"). Presumably it's LGPLed like the rest, but their own copyright
statement should clarify what files the LGPL license applies to -- ideally
in the files themselves, since the All Rights Reserved by itself does not
permit anything.
* include/dns_sd.h: Copyright belongs to Apple and must be noted in the
documentation.
* include/jni/*: "SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license
terms." Those license terms are not defined in the package. Whatever they
may be, it's almost certainly not permitted to redistribute them without that
license available.
* Java/com/phidgets/event/KeyChangeEvent.java: "Copyright 2006 Dictionarys Inc.
All rights reserved." Needs clarification and possible relicensing. Also
KeyRemovalEvent.java.
* Java/*.h: all machine generated, but from what? Can they be regenerated from
files in the package and tools available in Debian? A brief note in
debian/README.source would more than suffice here.
* zeroconf_lookup.c: claims to be taken from "mDNSResponderPosix's nss_mdns
code", which I believe is Apache 2.0-licensed (by Apple), not LGPL.
* utils/cvtutf.?: "This code is copyrighted. Under the copyright laws, this
code may not be copied, in whole or part, without prior written consent of
Taligent." That's a red flag! It may need to be replaced with other code,
e.g. http://www.unicode.org/faq/utf_bom.html#gen4
* utils/md5.?: Copyright Aladdin Enterprises. Okay to use but should be noted
in copyright file.
* linux/avahi-{client,common}: Code copies are discouraged. Could it instead
build against the existing libavahi-client-dev and libavahi-common-dev
packages? The different origin of these files should also be noted in
debian/copyright; they could also be stripped entirely, but since they're
LGPLed as well, probably not worth repacking the tarbell. A note in
debian/README.source explaining that they're unused (if moved to using the
libavahi* packages instead) would help.
> Last question, are you still interested in maintaining this package, and
> would you mind if somebody else take over?
Unfortunately I have no longer have access to any phidget hardware, so I
have no interest in maintaining it. Feel free to reassign the ITP.
Jon
[1] http://git.dereenigne.org/debian/libphidget21.git
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