-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Sat, 19 Oct 2002, Brian Nelson wrote:
>Kevin Atkinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >> On Sat, 19 Oct 2002, Brian Nelson wrote: >> >>> I'm working on packaging the new upstream GNU/aspell, and I've >>> discovered a problem with the (attached) license of the English >>> dictionary. The license, which is a mishmash of mostly free licenses,is >>> not DFSG free as I understand it due to the DEC Word list license >>> (beginning on line 134). >> >> RMS said the word lists were OK. Here is what he said to me. You can >> email him for confirmation: >> >> I think it is safe for us to use those wordlists. The person who >> avoided texts marked "copyright" was operating under an erroneous idea >> of how copyright law works, but if all he did with those texts was make >> word lists, this should not be a problem anyway. > >If these wordlists have been deemed free for any use, then the copyright >should be changed. To me, a license that states, > > "To the best of my knowledge, all the files I used to build these > wordlists were available for public distribution and use, at least for > non-commercial purposes," > >isn't a really license at all since it doesn't grant a user any clear >rights. IANAL, of course. Actually it isn't a granting of right, but a Testimonial that those rights exist. It means that you have recourse if sued to go after the one making the Testimony for your costs. In Debian, a Testimony that rights exist has usually been enough to cover for a license, but the term "license" for that is rather ambiguous, I'd agree. > - -- Armageddon means never having to say you're sorry. Who is John Galt? [EMAIL PROTECTED], that's who! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQE9slt/+ZSKG3nWr3ARArZbAKDaeudCHVlqyyRtSUfxFX58WVI/kQCdHCiY I6XdpnXwfLsLtIbbRrywrAg= =cJSI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----