Sam, > I'm a contributor to the gNewSense project [1], a GNU/Linux > distribution aiming to comply with the FSF's free system distribution > guidelines [2]. > > I came across your snprintf code in several of our packages. I would > like to clarify the license situation of this code with you. [...]
> 'This program is free software; it is dual licensed, the terms of the > "Frontier Artistic License" or the "GNU General Public License" can be > chosen at your discretion. The chosen license then applies solely and > in its entirety. Both licenses come with this Kit.' > > Version 2.2 has a LICENSE.txt containing the Frontier Artistic License, > but I can't find the GPL text. > > The FSF considers the Artistic License 1.0 (and hence the practically > identical Frontier Artistic License) non-free, so their guidelines > don't allow such code in distributions. GPL code is ok, of course. We > would like to keep using your useful code in our distribution. Do you > still allow snprintf to be published under the GPL? I'm sorry about the licensing confusion. In retrospect the Frontier Artistic License was a very bad idea, but at the time it seemed like a cleaned-up Artistic License. The portable snprintf is still dual licensed, GPL v2 can still be chosen and will remain so. I was considering dropping the Frontier Artistic License and replacing it with a new BSD license (while keeping the dual-licensing GPL 2 choice) - but I never got to releasing a new version. If you are interested, I can provide my current snprintf version 2.5, so you can decide if it has anything beyond 2.2 that would be interesting to your project. Regards Mark
