1. Forum
  2. Usenet
  3. LINUX.DEBIAN.LEGAL

  • Need license clarification

    From Dima Kogan@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jul 30 21:50:01 2022
    Hi. I'm currently packaging the geogram project:

    https://github.com/BrunoLevy/geogram

    It looks like most of it is distributed under a modified 3-clause BSD
    license:

    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.
    * Neither the name of the ALICE Project-Team nor the names of its
    contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
    software without specific prior written permission.

    THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "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 COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS 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.

    If you modify this software, you should include a notice giving the
    name of the person performing the modification, the date of modification,
    and the reason for such modification.

    The leading sections are just a vanilla 3-clause BSD license, but the
    last paragraph is custom for this project. Is this non-free?

    Thanks!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul Wise@21:1/5 to Dima Kogan on Sun Jul 31 02:40:01 2022
    https://github.com/BrunoLevy/geogram wrote:

      If you modify this software, you should include a notice giving the
      name of the person performing the modification, the date of modification,   and the reason for such modification.

    The word "should" seems to imply this might be optional, since the
    verbatim BSD sections use "must" for the mandatory parts.

    The GPL has similar requirements for notices of modification.

    On Sat, 2022-07-30 at 12:40 -0700, Dima Kogan wrote:

    The leading sections are just a vanilla 3-clause BSD license, but the
    last paragraph is custom for this project. Is this non-free?

    Looking at the DFSG, I can't think of any conflicts between the items
    in it and this custom license clause.

    https://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines

    All that said, this is license proliferation, which isn't really good,
    so you might want to consider asking upstream to drop the clause.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_proliferation

    --
    bye,
    pabs

    https://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

    iQIzBAABCgAdFiEEYQsotVz8/kXqG1Y7MRa6Xp/6aaMFAmLlzPUACgkQMRa6Xp/6 aaNrVw/+PQVecwa+ojdzPZ3K71TzgxJlIK3qJO1DhJxzSysjjsdUg8GT9CvYDrgs I7jdXVTec49zV+OwNl4WFueIebwgpN8gcnaT87NuGaf89uRscFHqOma4wKKKiFz7 9l7mN6eMyi+sDcS7qrPPDF3R3yF/bge8WhGFGEQbOW7oveQbBv25DCTc6t67IjVB EvVM88LuwYAB8rx27/CmVFgHPFnvG775SD9sKU28uAWsmvyFp70OOUyqkkoDZslt rt3zjAb5IjE+yVUsU1WD7pvW73DOzgtmHe+1IrkA0Gbfs4qfCmtGz/lreggxNuOI cJT1UhQUPeFtTvR94ghSJIOzn0S2z5lqCjgoDG/uHhLHRAG2qejPOleHOCxRCttZ ZL9tC/YailGvnw2ogyXR6NbR66G4r5zHWwNZM7sENuHfji6LEsYwa4aKnHxZbP/o HY249qXgS0Npsduk1UnUix1AGMa8PW1UTWFiZpR96gIddyiR+zmULY36HYVFieYH 8h9TJx08DrHawvb+u9aqY8pzfjQSkUF4jYL+Fl9WN8Z3t7aAm0clZ3xPz7Ijnv/n y/evpefWznEb4KKbmNm1cN0FxD3OdsqjyBNZewm05EwZ+2Ok9oxYtQpygNlSrmQv 5cRGWloVzmjRL1s58iZ1KR59Dy+RXs5NTbmbBdQzpi2Zv5+OvKw=
    =oSgC
    -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dima Kogan@21:1/5 to Paul Wise on Sun Jul 31 06:30:01 2022
    Paul Wise <[email protected]> writes:

    Looking at the DFSG, I can't think of any conflicts between the items
    in it and this custom license clause.

    https://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines

    All that said, this is license proliferation, which isn't really good,
    so you might want to consider asking upstream to drop the clause.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_proliferation

    Thank you very much, Paul. I'll send a message to upstream.

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

    iQJGBAEBCgAwFiEEteL6GQ/fmv4hiInPrMfCzzCUEYgFAmLmBQcSHGRrb2dhbkBk ZWJpYW4ub3JnAAoJEKzHws8wlBGIpdQQAItyd2dcui0fJ/5+ocLCSZiu4UJDlDOD 4M9Ro5ZcouwhgtoRip/UB0+dH1B0UEEAIVkCejm841EfaK/qhmVLsHyMZjkx5mN5 9QDVBIJ0yURnAmjcA7vXghZ1RB6PdjxY5ruz8p7WK+A1aeFuytGHXDTMt/bqyDcN QNcfBk0MQFO0k+wh0yU4EhgjFOjY9kDxmPs317bVYZcaGb/LtnSzxZJSsJ2++Usw e7Hmzn8K+WfSEEWC/95YO62DGgQ9SjGNqe1uPu7IegEoZ3H/Gw3K43xAKmmL4HUx p+15KPGeYoF8lAiI2fijuAvX6M6GyuI7MbZ83IF0e7cECr9HQShxoAdB6bOigkF2 CoHazVUN7X44Mo8ClvenvWvwRsfaGIBRH22BgdDpguf1TGv6aNPJ+sDxzvecV3sS zmmKKOTTwmNTJN+IEp5JtM6r9V4SjBoiAvPtRQz6BMQAmEp942w61PF65kf7B0IA u7Xl//n3fgQcUhuWW7gD0tfNkmbBmOBg4MEiaCT01yGcX10ZICWNDjlac2HC/k6v hRhBuo6bTXQr6/HlPJw2rVosNI6iyh8eUAAp8oK97GoXHgN/nnUdZAyNBpcEgGT1 jV/fjWw6GbNpakThDI90Af0NlNnIhV+5xFZeLFPp0W60MeZ5ZkdoJhmd+d1SE+sh
    9gffmt8egEq7
    =QnOH
    -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)