On Feb 19, Alexei Kaminski wrote: > I am the current maintainer for the package revtex, which is a collection of > LaTeX style files to be used in manuscripts submitted for publication in the > journals published by the American Physical Society. The license of the > upstream version 3.1, which makes the current revtex package, prohibits > taking money for the distribution or use of the files except for a nominal > charge for copying, etc. It makes the upstream version 3.1 inelegible for > debian/main. > > Recently, version 4 of the upstream product has been released, under the > Latex Project Public License (http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.html). > > My question for debian-legal is: Does the Latex Project Public License satisfy > the Debian Free Software Guidelines? > > My understanding is that in general it does not, due to the clause > "You may not modify in any way a file of The Program that bears a legal > notice forbidding modification of that file," but revtex's upstream version 4 > can still be considered as free since none of its files bears such a notice.
I believe that interpretation is correct; in the same vein, other licenses (the OPL, for example) have optional clauses that, when not invoked, pass the DFSG. Chris -- Chris Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - http://www.lordsutch.com/chris/ Computer Systems Manager, Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of Mississippi 125B Lewis Hall - 662-915-5765
