Re: partial license audit of XFree86 4.3.0
Branden Robinson wrote: > B) Copyright 1985, 1986 The Regents of the University of California. >All rights reserved. > >This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by >James A. Woods, derived from original work by Spencer Thomas >and Joseph Orost. > >Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted >provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are >duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, >advertising materials, and other materials related to such >distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed >by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the >University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived >from this software without specific prior written permission. >THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR >IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED >WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. > > *** The above license is not GPL-compatible. > > Affected files: > xc/lib/font/fontfile/decompress.c > xc/util/compress/Makefile [2] > xc/util/compress/compress.1 [2] > xc/util/compress/compress.c [2] > xc/util/compress/usermem.sh [2] The above license does not appear to be DFSG-free at all. It allows redistribution and use, but not modification or distribution of modified versions. - Josh Triplett
Re: partial license audit of XFree86 4.3.0
On Thu, Feb 05, 2004 at 10:22:05AM -0700, Joel Baker wrote: > > [8] Except Mr. Demetriou actually uses the 3-clause BSD license on this > > file: [...] > > [9] This file says it is "Borrowed from NetBSD's exec_aout.h", so it may > > have > > since been relicensed "upstream". > > Since CGD is a frequent contributor to NetBSD, and he's on my list of > people I still need to ask about relicensing to 3-clause stuff for the > NetBSD codebase, I could possibly raise the issue of the XFree86 license > texts at the same time, if you wish. Please do. You have a good relationship with those guys, so I'd be quite happy if you could do this. If I asked, I might manage to piss someone off. :) -- G. Branden Robinson| When dogma enters the brain, all Debian GNU/Linux | intellectual activity ceases. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | -- Robert Anton Wilson http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: partial license audit of XFree86 4.3.0
On Thu, Feb 05, 2004 at 01:03:00AM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote: > > 2) Copyright (c) 1993, 1994 Christopher G. Demetriou > > Affected files: > xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/MTRR-Lynx.shar [8] > xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/loader/aout.h [9] [ snip ] > [8] Except Mr. Demetriou actually uses the 3-clause BSD license on this file: > > X * Copyright (c) 1993 Christopher G. Demetriou > X * All rights reserved. > X * > X * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without > X * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions > X * are met: > X * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright > X *notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. > X * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright > X *notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the > X *documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. > X * 3. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products > X *derived from this software without specific prior written permission > X * > X * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR > X * IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES > X * OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. > X * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, > X * INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT > X * NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, > X * DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY > X * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT > X * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF > X * THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. > > [9] This file says it is "Borrowed from NetBSD's exec_aout.h", so it may have > since been relicensed "upstream". Since CGD is a frequent contributor to NetBSD, and he's on my list of people I still need to ask about relicensing to 3-clause stuff for the NetBSD codebase, I could possibly raise the issue of the XFree86 license texts at the same time, if you wish. -- Joel Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,''`. Debian GNU/NetBSD(i386) porter : :' : `. `' `- pgpFsMMcquseg.pgp Description: PGP signature
partial license audit of XFree86 4.3.0
On Fri, Jan 30, 2004 at 12:31:44PM -0700, paul cannon wrote: > Since this issue has made it to slashdot [1], it may be the appropriate > time for some discussion here. I haven't seen any here yet, but I may > not have looked hard enough, so apologies in advance if this is old > news. > > To summarize, an announcement [2] by David Dawes from last night indicates > that the XFree86 Project, Inc. intends to release version 4.4.0 with a > different license than the one it had before. > > The project has made available a diff [3] (subject to change, one would > assume) of the changes to be applied to the source to get the new > license in the applicable files. > > The actual changes to the license are detailed at > http://www.xfree86.org/legal/licenses.html. [snip] I'd like to note two things: This license change does not appear to have been committed to XFree86 CVS yet, at least judging by xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/LICENSE.sgml, which contains the XFree86 license text. (xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/LICENSE is the plain text version, but it is a generated file and not always up-to-date with the SGML source.) It should be noted that this is not the only recent license change to XFree86 that is GPL-incompatible. Please see: http://cvsweb.xfree86.org/cvsweb/xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/LICENSE.sgml.diff?r1=1.21&r2=1.22&f=h Thomas Winischhofer Copyright (C) 2001-2004 Thomas Winischhofer Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by Thomas Winischhofer. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. This is a standard 4-clause BSD license, and is GPL-incompatible for the reasons described in http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/bsd.html >. However, this change was only recently applied, and all of the code copyrighted by Mr. Winischhofer in XFree86 4.3.0 is under the MIT/X11 license, with several files indicating: * If distributed as part of the linux kernel, the contents of this file * is entirely covered by the GPL. Parties using the 4-clause BSD license in the XFree86 codebase (at least according to the LICENSE.sgml file) as of CVS revision 1.22 are: 1) Copyright (c) 1993 The Regents of the University of California. This has probably been reverted to the 3-clause BSD license through the Regents' mass relicensing of such code; see ftp://ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/4bsd/README.Impt.License.Change >. Affected files: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/sunLynx/fbio.h xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/MTRR-Lynx.shar [1] xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/apNetBSD.shar [1,5] 2) Copyright (c) 1993, 1994 Christopher G. Demetriou Affected files: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/MTRR-Lynx.shar [8] xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/loader/aout.h [9] 3) Copyright (c) 2003 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc. Affected files: NONE! There are no files copyrighted by the NetBSD Foundation in the XFree86 4.3.0 codebase that I could find with the method I used[10]. However, I did find the following: * Copyright (c) 1999 Lennart Augustsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * All rights reserved. * * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions * are met: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright *notice, this list
