Bug#541703: base-files: Please include FreeBSD license
Rolf Leggewie debian-b...@rolf.leggewie.biz writes: please include the FreeBSD license among the ones in /usr/share/common-licenses/ FreeBSD is not the same as BSD, only similar. BSD has three clauses, FreeBSD only 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_license http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/freebsd-license.html The purpose of /usr/share/common-licenses (with one exception, see below) is not to accumulate good free software licenses, but rather primarily to save space both in the archive and on installed systems. For example, there are 19,893 packages in the archive that reference some form of the GPL, and given its length, we don't want to ship 19,893 copies of the GPL and have every Debian user have hundreds or thousands of copies of it installed. This argument, though, really doesn't apply to short licenses like the BSD-style licenses. For those licenses, just including the full text in debian/copyright doesn't take up any appreciable amount of space. Given that, the advantages of having the licensing directly contained with the work rather than redirected elsewhere are, I think, overwhelming. You're correct that we currently include the University of California version of the BSD license in common-licenses, but the general consensus is that this is for the combination of historical reasons (it's very difficult to ever remove a license from there) and because it's explicitly called out in the DFSG as a free software license. Were we doing this all over again, I don't think we would have included that license. Since, in addition to that, there are a lot of subtle wording variations in BSD-style licenses and including them in common-licenses tends to encourage people to point to common-licenses even when the wording is slightly different and they legally shouldn't do so, I don't think this is a good candidate for common-licenses. I'm accordingly marking this bug as rejected, although it will stay open for a while in case anyone disagrees and wants to make a case for inclusion. -- Russ Allbery (r...@debian.org) http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#541703: base-files: Please include FreeBSD license
reassign 541703 debian-policy thanks In this bug, I'm asked to include the FreeBSD license (which is not exactly the same as the BSD license) into common-licenses. As usual, I delegate this decision to the policy group (hence the reassign). [ IMHO, the proposed license is so small that we don't save any space by putting it in common-licenses, but it's your decision ]. Thanks. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#541703: base-files: Please include FreeBSD license
On Sat, 15 Aug 2009, Rolf Leggewie wrote: Rolf Leggewie wrote: Package: base-files Version: 5.0.0ubuntu6 I reported this from Ubuntu, but of course, I had verified the problem is the same in Debian. Please read the base-files FAQ in the Debian base-files package and reassign appropriately. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#541703: base-files: Please include FreeBSD license
Package: base-files Version: 5.0.0ubuntu6 Severity: wishlist Hello, please include the FreeBSD license among the ones in /usr/share/common-licenses/ FreeBSD is not the same as BSD, only similar. BSD has three clauses, FreeBSD only 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_license http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/freebsd-license.html Regards Rolf -- System Information: Debian Release: squeeze/sid APT prefers karmic-updates APT policy: (500, 'karmic-updates'), (500, 'karmic-security'), (500, 'karmic') Architecture: i386 (i686) Kernel: Linux 2.6.31-5-generic (SMP w/1 CPU core) Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Versions of packages base-files depends on: ii base-passwd3.5.21Debian base system master password ii gawk [awk] 1:3.1.6.dfsg-0ubuntu1 GNU awk, a pattern scanning and pr ii libpam-modules 1.0.1-10ubuntu1 Pluggable Authentication Modules f ii mawk [awk] 1.3.3-14ubuntu1 a pattern scanning and text proces base-files recommends no packages. base-files suggests no packages. -- no debconf information -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#541703: base-files: Please include FreeBSD license
Rolf Leggewie wrote: Package: base-files Version: 5.0.0ubuntu6 I reported this from Ubuntu, but of course, I had verified the problem is the same in Debian. Just thought I should clear that up. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
