Le Mon, Aug 02, 2010 at 02:27:34PM -0700, Russ Allbery a écrit : > > It's probably worth noting here that if something purports to be in the > public domain but includes things like warranty disclaimers, the author > has misunderstood public domain. If it's really public domain, there's no > way to add warranty disclaimers or no-endorsement statements. If those > things have any legal force, then it's not actually public domain.
Hi Russ, here is an example of package where I use the License field to include include copy of a public domain notice. This is a software made by a U. S. Governmental agency. http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/e/epcr/epcr_2.3.12-1/ncbi-epcr.copyright Licence: PD PUBLIC DOMAIN NOTICE National Center for Biotechnology Information This software/database is a "United States Government Work" under the terms of the United States Copyright Act. It was written as part of the author's official duties as a United States Government employee and thus cannot be copyrighted. This software/database is freely available to the public for use. The National Library of Medicine and the U.S. Government have not placed any restriction on its use or reproduction. Although all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the software and data, the NLM and the U.S. Government do not and cannot warrant the performance or results that may be obtained by using this software or data. The NLM and the U.S. Government disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of performance, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Please cite the author in any work or product based on this material. In general, I think that it is appropriate to convey the information of what the authors want people to do or refrain to do with their software, even if they can not enforce it. In the above example, citing the notice also has the advantage of clarifying why the work is in the public domain, and give some confidence that it is not a misunderstanding from the upstream author. Have a nice day, -- Charles Plessy Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
