Hi,
This message is to Sandro Tosi, too.
Thank you very much for that valid, verifiable, and nicely done bug
report. I had no idea that GNU LGPL code could not be mixed with GPL
library code, but according to your information sources, that is
correct. But I think the spirit of it is meant if the LGPL code is used
as a library, which it is not, in the Mathomatic Debian package. The
Mathomatic symbolic math library version does not use readline at all
and is not included in any Debian package yet.
So I will be phasing out the use of GNU readline and re-uploading
everything requested with editline used instead. editline appears to
work well in the current version of Mathomatic, and is much more
compact. Then we will be sure everything is legal according to the
licenses.
To start with, I will be uploading a new experimental package with
editline, if Sandro accepts it. And then I need to find out how to make
the older packages legal. Do I patch them? How do I patch things in
Debian? Do I use diff or quilt? Probably quilt3, since I need to
make changes to the Mathomatic source code to specify editline instead
of readline, right Sandro?
Dear Sandro, would it be acceptable to upload the latest and best
version of Mathomatic into unstable and get it pushed to testing, even
though there is a freeze in effect? Then you could just delete all the
old versions, since they are all not acceptable because of license
incompatibilities, according to this bug report. This would be the most
likely thing to work properly, and get editline into Wheezy Mathomatic.
Then I wouldn't even have to upload to experimental. I would like to
get the legal Mathomatic into Squeeze too though, because I think there
will be problems if you just delete the Squeeze Mathomatic. I can't
guarantee the old code will work properly with editline, but I will test
it somewhat. I am willing to do the work, if requested, of patching
each version of Mathomatic you would like me to, so they are all
perfectly legal, yet remain the old versions that don't work so well. I
just have never made a Debian patch before. Will this article be the
most helpful for me?:
http://raphaelhertzog.com/2012/08/08/how-to-use-quilt-to-manage-patches-in-debian-packages/
Most of this message is to Sandro Tosi, since he is my most excellent
sponsor of Mathomatic and will know what I should do in this case. What
are your thoughts on this, Sandro, please? If my computer and I
continue to work properly, I will do what you say. Thank you both very
much for your time and expertise! I hope you all enjoyed Summer! I am
doing oral chemotherapy lately. It is quite interesting, a pill that
cures cancer! Amazing! It is called Xeloda. I have to handle the
pills with gloves, because it is a poison, like any chemotherapy.
Best Regards,
George Gesslein II
Author of Mathomatic
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