Bug#1001274: scowl source has (probably outdated?) problematic license conditions

[Gernot Hillier]

Source: scowl
Version: 2019.10.06-1

During licensing checks of the "scowl" sources, we identified two 
problematic files. r/pos/README-orig as well as r/mwords/README. Both say:


[...]
This documentation, software and/or database was developed
and copyrighted by Grady Ward and is licensed, not sold, to
you on a non-exclusive, non-transferable basis. The documentation,
software and/or database and derivative works of this database
may not be copied in whole or part except for archival purposes
as provided by law.
[...]

The Debian copyright however cites from r/pos/README that "The MWords 
package was explicitly placed in the public domain". To me at least, 
it's unclear whether the both READMEs were considered and if yes, it 
would really help to add some clarifying statements in copyright why the 
licensing terms in the (old?) README files don't apply (any more?).


I also reported an upstream bug at 
https://github.com/en-wl/wordlist/issues/333.

Bug#991952: Acknowledgement (chardet test suite has problematic license)

[Gernot Hillier]

I also filed an upstream bug on this: 
https://github.com/chardet/chardet/issues/231

Bug#991952: chardet test suite has problematic license

[Gernot Hillier]

Source: chardet
Version: 4.0.0-1

During licensing checks of the "chardet" sources, we identified 
problematic files in tests/. In general, tests/README.txt states:


[...]
These test feeds were downloaded from random sites while I was
developing the Universal Encoding Detector. Each feed is copyright its
respective publisher.
[...]

It doesn't seem these files are included in the `python3-chardet` Debian 
binary package, but they are still distributed by Debian as part of 
http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/c/chardet/chardet_4.0.0.orig.tar.gz.

Bug#986949: Linux 4.19 staging driver mt7621-mmc has problematic license

[Gernot Hillier]

On 15.04.21 16:09, Salvatore Bonaccorso wrote:

For 4.19.y it is now queued up upstream to be dropped, cf.
https://lore.kernel.org/stable/YHghlaftXxH49lUy@sashalap/ .


Thank you, Salvatore - that's for sure way better than removing the file 
in Debian only!

Bug#986949: Linux 4.19 staging driver mt7621-mmc has problematic license

[Gernot Hillier]

Oops, sorry, the path of the example in initial bug description is 
incomplete - the cited problematic licensing terms are from 
drivers/staging/mt7621-mmc/sd.c.


However, please refer to kernel commit 441bf7332 linked in the initial 
bug description for a list of files that should be removed.

Bug#986949: Linux 4.19 staging driver mt7621-mmc has problematic license

[Gernot Hillier]

Source: linux
Version: 4.19.181-1
X-Debbugs-CC: jan.kis...@siemens.com

During licensing checks of the "linux" sources, we identified 
problematic files in drivers/staging/mt7621-mmc. As an example, 
drivers/staging/mt7621-mmc states:


[...]
 * This software/firmware and related documentation ("MediaTek 
Software") are
 * protected under relevant copyright laws. The information contained 
herein

 * is confidential and proprietary to MediaTek Inc. and/or its licensors.
[...]

This was also identified by Linux kernel maintainers and driver was 
removed from later kernel versions, see 
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=441bf7332d55c4d34afae9ffc3bbec621093f4d1. 
However, it seems this commit was not picked by stable 4.19 tree (yet).


It doesn't seem those drivers are included in any Debian binary package 
(they seem to depend on CONFIG_RALINK which I couldn't find in the 
buster kernel configs), but it's still distributed by Debian as part of 
http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/linux/linux_4.19.181.orig.tar.xz.


The issue seems to only affect kernels prior to v5.2 and past v4.16, 
thus practically only buster.