On 18.11.2012 18:55, Michael Meskes wrote: > On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 04:28:01PM +0100, Felix Geyer wrote: >> Removing the Open Watcom source files would be a GPL violation unless >> upstream >> explicitly adds a license to the generated assembler files. > > IANAL but wouldn't the general license from the package kick in if there is no > license mentioned in a source file?
The assembler file explicitly says that it's build from GPL code so the GPL rules for distributing object code applies here. That means you need keep the source code in the tarball. >> It's pretty hard to believe that someone could write and maintain 15,000 >> lines >> of assembler code without a single comment. > > But that's not the point. It's not about whether or not you believe them, it's > about what the license dictates. It's not really about licenses. I don't doubt that the VirtualBox BIOS is perfectly fine GPLv2 code. However the Debian Policy enforces additional restrictions such as everything in main needs to be buildable from source with software from main. I think it's a reason to not include software in Debian if we have strong doubts whether upstream ships the real source code and that restricts how we can make modifications to the software. >> Sure, you can modify those assembler files but they are just a post-processed >> compiler output. That means in practice you can't modify it in a meaningful >> way. >> In fact the files say "Auto Generated source file. Do not edit." ;-) > > Ok, for the sake of my argument let's assumed that line was removed. :) > >> For example we would be unable to cherry-pick a BIOS fix from trunk. > > Good point. > >> With the same argument you could declare every disassembled binary that is >> built >> from high level language code as source code. > > True. I'm not saying it is, I just wonder whether our restriction makes sense. The restriction makes sense because it ensures that you have the freedom to modify the code and actually run the modified software. Felix -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
