On Wed, 30 Sep 2015 09:45:26 +0200 IOhannes m zmölnig (Debian/GNU) wrote: > On 2015-09-30 02:18, Ben Finney wrote: > > Yes, that is clearly what the GPL calls an “additional restriction” > > on the recipient's exercise of their freedoms guaranteed by the > > GPL. > > > > GPLv2 §6: > > > > Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the > > Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the > > original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program > > subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any > > further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights > > granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by > > third parties to this License. > > hmm, frankly i don't see how this is very relevant here. > the original licensor (the linuxsampler devs) grants a license to all > recipients. this license includes the "restriction". > the "YOU" in the license only refers to the recipients who would like > to pass on the software to other recipients. they may not add any > "additional" restriction to the license as given by the original licenso > r. > so if "we" (Debian) don't add further restrictions, that should be fine.
I personally think it is indeed relevant. Let me try to explain. The term "further restrictions" is meant "with respect to the GPL terms", not "with respect to GPL terms + any terms added by the copyright holder". Hence releasing software under "GPL + further restrictions" creates a self-contradictory license, where anyone willing to redistribute has to comply with the following conditions: • redistribute under the GPL terms • do not impose any further restriction (with respect to the GPL) • do not drop the restrictions which are already present (copyright laws do not allow distributors to drop restrictions) One cannot comply with all these conditions at the same time. The "GPL + further restrictions" license is therefore self-contradictory. Please also see this old reply by RMS: https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2006/05/msg00303.html I hope this clarifies. -- http://www.inventati.org/frx/ There's not a second to spare! To the laboratory! ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == CA01 1147 9CD2 EFDF FB82 3925 3E1C 27E1 1F69 BFFE
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