Re: Upstream pointing to COPYING file in headers
Hi Ben, 2015-05-01 22:52 GMT-03:00 Ben Finney ben+deb...@benfinney.id.au: It may be *intended* to grant some license, and that intention may be meaningful if a case is ever heard in court. But as it stands, that text does not IMO inform the recipient what they may and may not do with the work. In particular, as you point out, there is no word on whether the recipient may redistribute the work under “(at your option) any later version” of the GPL “as published by the Free Software Foundation”. Thanks a lot for your opinion. I will consider, for a first release in NEW, GPL-2 only and ask for upstream to change the headers. So, my initial POV will be kept. Regards, Eriberto -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/CAP+dXJdTbFiW2fXz1zp_7qvPzWtA90oet6Oeq=jg9l4fvs9...@mail.gmail.com
Re: Upstream pointing to COPYING file in headers
On Sat, May 02, 2015 at 11:52:13AM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: Eriberto Mota eribe...@debian.org writes: --- (C) 2007-2009 Lluís Batlle i Rossell Please find the license in the provided COPYING file. --- That is an assertion of copyright without a grant of license. Nonsense. There is no ambiguity here at all, it tells you exactly where to find the license. However, you are right that it is *not* a correct license grant for GPLv2+, only for GPL2. This is inconsistent with the license statement on the website. I advise you make efforts to convince the copyright holder to follow the guidance in the COPYING document on “How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs”. What they have is needlessly ambiguous. Agreed. Since the website expresses intent to license under GPLv2+, they should include this in the source files as well. Absent a clarification from upstream, I would take the conservative approach of treating this as a GPL2 (not GPL2+) work for debian/copyright. -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developerhttp://www.debian.org/ slanga...@ubuntu.com vor...@debian.org signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: Upstream pointing to COPYING file in headers
On Sat, May 02, 2015 at 08:59:14AM +0200, Steve Langasek wrote: On Sat, May 02, 2015 at 11:52:13AM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: Eriberto Mota eribe...@debian.org writes: --- (C) 2007-2009 Lluís Batlle i Rossell Please find the license in the provided COPYING file. --- That is an assertion of copyright without a grant of license. Nonsense. There is no ambiguity here at all, it tells you exactly where to find the license. However, you are right that it is *not* a correct license grant for GPLv2+, only for GPL2. This is inconsistent with the license statement on the website. I advise you make efforts to convince the copyright holder to follow the guidance in the COPYING document on “How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs”. What they have is needlessly ambiguous. Agreed. Since the website expresses intent to license under GPLv2+, they should include this in the source files as well. Absent a clarification from upstream, I would take the conservative approach of treating this as a GPL2 (not GPL2+) work for debian/copyright. Also note that the final part of GPL 2 section 9 [G1] states: ... If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation. I suppose that can be an incentive to add an appropriate license grant. [G1] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html#section9 -- Josué M. Abarca S. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/20150502234046.gh1...@debian.local.net
Re: Upstream pointing to COPYING file in headers
2015-05-02 20:40 GMT-03:00 Josue Abarca jmasli...@debian.org: Also note that the final part of GPL 2 section 9 [G1] states: ... If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation. I suppose that can be an incentive to add an appropriate license grant. [G1] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html#section9 -- Josué M. Abarca S. Ok, but it is an option to final user. A package can't impose a version. A package must describe the original upstream license only. Eriberto -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/CAP+dXJd_xqRP7B3cSDgsOBru=0UW+1OqtbxK=qjotzm+tut...@mail.gmail.com
Re: Upstream pointing to COPYING file in headers
Eriberto Mota eribe...@debian.org writes: --- (C) 2007-2009 Lluís Batlle i Rossell Please find the license in the provided COPYING file. --- That is an assertion of copyright without a grant of license. It may be *intended* to grant some license, and that intention may be meaningful if a case is ever heard in court. But as it stands, that text does not IMO inform the recipient what they may and may not do with the work. In particular, as you point out, there is no word on whether the recipient may redistribute the work under “(at your option) any later version” of the GPL “as published by the Free Software Foundation”. IMHO, this generical case imposes a GPL-2 license, not a GPL-2+, because the upstream didn't explain his intent in source code. What is your opinion? I advise you make efforts to convince the copyright holder to follow the guidance in the COPYING document on “How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs”. What they have is needlessly ambiguous. -- \ “[F]reedom of speech does not entail freedom to have your ideas | `\accepted by governments and incorporated into law and policy.” | _o__) —Russell Blackford, 2010-03-06 | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/85k2wrg302@benfinney.id.au
Upstream pointing to COPYING file in headers
Hi guys, I would like to confirm a situation. In a package that I will sponsor, the upstream points to COPYING file in each header. Here is an example: --- (C) 2007-2009 Lluís Batlle i Rossell Please find the license in the provided COPYING file. --- The provided COPYING file is the conventional full text of the GPL-2. The upstream homepage[1] says: Download the latest version (GPLv2+ licensed): ts-0.7.5.tar.gz - v0.7.5 (2014-03-06) - Changelog [1] http://vicerveza.homeunix.net/~viric/soft/ts/ However, I can't see any GPL-2+ reference in source code and the COPYING file has the conventional FSL GPL text (as here[2]). [2] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html IMHO, this generical case imposes a GPL-2 license, not a GPL-2+, because the upstream didn't explain his intent in source code. What is your opinion? Thanks in advance. Regards, Eriberto -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/cap+dxjcgb8dbks_erz_4v_wb85noxjftogwq_kmkjdargp5...@mail.gmail.com
