* Martin Michlmayr - Debian Project Leader <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2004-12-14 20:55]: > Definition as well as the DFSG and have asked for out input. When we > originally started the discussion, the license had not been published > so I asked Don Armstrong and Matthew Garrett privately to comment on > it.
I'll include Don's and Matthew's original comments below (with permission). Note that they came too late for inclusion in the current version of the license but they will be considered for the next revision. We recently received a reply to Don's comments but since I have not obtained permission to post them I won't include them here (I just asked for permission to publish them, though). Don's comments: In section 2, part (4): Provided that you have received Documentation for the Program, you have to deliver this Documentation with the Program, as well, unless free delivery of the Documentation is not permitted by the documentation license. This seems to indicate that the Documentation is a portion of the program that cannot be removed for any reason, blocking the creation of binary only packages, and separate documentation packages, or the use of the program on devices where the documentation cannot be included. This probably fails DFSG §3. Section 3 part 3 which allows the license to be compatible with the GPL is a bit strange. I would suggest instead something like the following: If you distribute or make publicly aviallbe the Program or parts thereof in combination with another program licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the Program when combined with the GPLed program constitues a "derivative work" in the sense of section 2 b) of the GPL ("You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.") the Program is then also licensed ("dual licensed") under the terms of the GPL version 2 or later at your option. [This gets rid of the necessity to munge about with changing reference from this license to the GPL in source code files if you happen to combine it with a GPLed work.] Section 3 part 5 probably fails DFSG §6, since it appears to preclude charging for the use of the program. (5) You may not charge any third party for the granting of the nonexclusive rights of use for the Program. Section 4 does not limit the time that the Source Code has to be available for someone who distributes Object Code. This would seem to mean that Debian would have to keep track of every single source version for every binary that we distribute. [I guess we do on s.d.n, and it's probably a good idea, but I don't think the license should require this... or at least, you should be able to get away with offering the source at the same time as you offer the object code.] In addition, what a "customary data carrier" means is kind of strange. [I'd almost suggest taking a page from the GPL here.] Section 5 has a bit of dissonance between contract acceptance and a license agreement... which one are they actually going for here? Shouldn't section 7 do the usual disclaimer of all warranties? part (2) seems ok, but if I were using this licence, I'd like to see something disclaiming all waranties unless a specific agreement exists between the licensee and the licensor. Section 8 part (3) should probably go away. While the DMCA and the ilk is bad, since this license is a copyleft, real technical protective measures would mean that you wouldn't be given the source. [See the issues with the GFDL for examples of why this clause is probably not a great idea, even though it means well.] Anyway, with the changes and suggestions above in mind, it's likely that this license can be turned into a free software license. However, I'm not totally certain yet why this license should be selected over the GPL for instance. If possible, I'd recommend that software thinking about using this license that doesn't already use the GPL instead of, or in addition to, this license. Matthew's comments: After reading it quickly, the first issue that comes to mind is that the requirement to provide documentation could be a significant issue. Regardless of any philosophical issues, if an application is provided with GFDLed documentation, we have no right to remove the docs. -- Martin Michlmayr [EMAIL PROTECTED]