Apple violating git LGPL?
Hello, I ran git on my newly-set-up OS X Mavericks machine, and get: $ git Agreeing to the Xcode/iOS license requires admin privileges, please re-run as root via sudo. Running 'git --verision' gives the same result. This seems problematic in a few ways, and I am wondering if the git community is interested in addressing it: 1. Why do I have to agree to Apple's licensing terms to use an LGPL program? Is this appropriate? Is it allowed under the LGPL? 2. This is a significant problem for me, because I'm using a work machine and do not have admin access. 3. The version of git I ran is clearly NOT a plain vanilla official git, it is a derivative work. Has Apple provided the source code of the special version that I just ran? If not, that would seem to be a violation of the LGPL. Thanks, Bob -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe git in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Apple violating git LGPL?
On Wed, Aug 06, 2014 at 02:10:08PM -0400, Robert P Fischer wrote: 3. The version of git I ran is clearly NOT a plain vanilla official git, it is a derivative work. Has Apple provided the source code of the special version that I just ran? If not, that would seem to be a violation of the LGPL. I found the source code of Apple's Git builds here: http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/ Mine happens to be Git-48. I'm not sure how to tell what version you have if it is prompting you to accept a licence first. Charles. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe git in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Apple violating git LGPL?
On Wed, Aug 06, 2014 at 02:10:08PM -0400, Robert P Fischer wrote: I ran git on my newly-set-up OS X Mavericks machine, and get: $ git Agreeing to the Xcode/iOS license requires admin privileges, please re-run as root via sudo. Running 'git --verision' gives the same result. This seems problematic in a few ways, and I am wondering if the git community is interested in addressing it: 1. Why do I have to agree to Apple's licensing terms to use an LGPL program? Is this appropriate? Is it allowed under the LGPL? You are not running the real git at all here; Apple ships stubs for several commands, including git, that are distributed with XCode. When you run the program, it prompts you to install XCode, which then actually downloads and installs git, replacing the stub. You can download XCode separately, of course, but you would still need to agree to the license. You can download git separately and not need to bother (though I do not know offhand how to download Apple's git, or whether they provide a script to replace the stubs). Also, minor nit, but git is GPL, not LGPL. 2. This is a significant problem for me, because I'm using a work machine and do not have admin access. You can always download and install git yourself. There's no need to use the XCode version. However, XCode is the simplest way to get a compiler on the machine, AFAIK (I do not use OS X myself). 3. The version of git I ran is clearly NOT a plain vanilla official git, it is a derivative work. Has Apple provided the source code of the special version that I just ran? If not, that would seem to be a violation of the LGPL. You didn't run a derivative git. You ran their stub. As it happens, though, they _do_ modify the git that they distribute. I know at least that they bake-in the osxkeychain helper config in away that the user cannot turn off. There may be more changes, but I haven't done a full diff. And they do provide the source: https://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/ -Peff -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe git in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Apple violating git LGPL?
On 08/06/2014 11:43 AM, Jeff King wrote: snippage here 8 8 As it happens, though, they _do_ modify the git that they distribute. I know at least that they bake-in the osxkeychain helper config in away that the user cannot turn off. There may be more changes, but I haven't done a full diff. And they do provide the source: https://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/ Is that a plugin? if not what about proprietary plugins? How are they affected by the license is this case? -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe git in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Apple violating git LGPL?
Also, minor nit, but git is GPL, not LGPL. But Apple put a LGPL license in side the folder. See: https://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-48/src/git/LGPL-2.1 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe git in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Apple violating git LGPL?
On Wed, Aug 06, 2014 at 01:23:00PM -0700, Tony wrote: Also, minor nit, but git is GPL, not LGPL. But Apple put a LGPL license in side the folder. See: https://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-48/src/git/LGPL-2.1 Interesting. It starts with: While most of this project is under the GPL (see COPYING), the xdiff/ library and some libc code from compat/ are licensed under the GNU LGPL, version 2.1 or (at your option) any later version and some other files are under other licenses. Check the individual files to be sure. which makes sense. -Peff -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe git in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Apple violating git LGPL?
On Wed, Aug 06, 2014 at 12:53:56PM -0700, Bruce Ferrell wrote: On 08/06/2014 11:43 AM, Jeff King wrote: snippage here 8 8 As it happens, though, they _do_ modify the git that they distribute. I know at least that they bake-in the osxkeychain helper config in away that the user cannot turn off. There may be more changes, but I haven't done a full diff. And they do provide the source: https://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/ Is that a plugin? if not what about proprietary plugins? How are they affected by the license is this case? I don't know exactly what you mean by plugin here. osxkeychain is a separate program found in git's contrib directory. You point git at it by setting your credential.helper config to osxkeychain. However, in the Apple version, they have hardcoded that config into the git binary, and you can't turn it off (you can add additional helpers, but you can't undo the keychain helper). So I don't think there is any licensing question about what they have done[1]. I do not know offhand of any proprietary credential helpers. They do interact with git over a pipe, and their primary function is to feed data to git. My understanding is that there are some people who believe that makes them derivative works of git (i.e., that talking RPC over a pipe to avoid linking does not get around the GPL), but there are others who would consider them separate programs. -Peff [1] Whether what they have done is smart is another matter. I looked at the diff Apple's Git-48 and v1.8.5.2 (on which it seems to be based). There aren't a huge number of changes, but some of them baffle me. Why bake-in credential.helper when you can set it in /etc/gitconfig? Why default core.trustctime to false when you can set it via /etc/gitconfig? Etc. I wish they would work with the configurability tools that we already provide, and if those are not sufficient, work with us to make git more configurable. But AFAIK whoever is responsible for those changes has never participated on the mailing list. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe git in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
