legal January 2010

legal@lists.fedoraproject.org

11 participants
10 discussions

Re: [Fedora-legal-list] CAcert.org license
by Tom Callaway 12 Feb '16

12 Feb '16

On Tue, 2008-12-09 at 23:03 +0100, Matthias Saou wrote: > > >>>>> "TC" == Tom \"spot\" Callaway <Tom> writes: > > > > TC> Given that it does not give permission for us to redistribute (the > > TC> cornerstone requirement for Content licenses), this license is not > > TC> acceptable for Fedora. > > > > I guess I'm glad I looked before approving the package, but I have to > > wonder: Do the cacert folks actually want anyone to use their > > certificates? I mean, this prevents basically everyone from using > > them, because they can't come with the OS or the browser. > > Personally, the more I read the document, the more I'm confused. > > "You may NOT distribute certificates or root keys under this > licence"... does this mean we can distribute under a different license? Well, sortof. The wording here is strange because you can get a different license from the CA issuer. We can't just pick a license, but the CA issuer might be willing to give us a different one. > Would it be worth getting in contact with CAcert.org in order to try > and have them allow us to redistribute the root certs under conditions > which are acceptable to the Fedora Project? Probably, yes. :) ~spot

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Please define "effective license" (for the love of consistency)
by Orcan Ogetbil 19 Jul '10

19 Jul '10

1) I came across another review with the same license question. The source files have one of the GPLv2, GPLv2+ and LGPLv2+ headers each. They get compiled and produce 1 final binary executable. None of the headers (or other source code files) go to the final RPM. What goes to the license tag of the package? Ref: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=537325#c4 2) Hypothetical question (although happens rather frequently): What if there was a -devel subpackage and .h files with different licenses ended up in this -devel subpackage? Orcan

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Trusster Open Source License
by Shakthi Kannan 08 Jul '10

08 Jul '10

Hi, Could you please clarify if the Trusster [1] Open Source License is an acceptable Free/Open Source Software License for the Fedora project. The Teal [2] project uses this license: === BEGIN === Trusster Open Source License version 1.0a (TRUST) copyright (c) 2006 Mike Mintz and Robert Ekendahl. All rights reserved. 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. * Redistributions in any form must be accompanied by information on how to obtain complete source code for this software and any accompanying software that uses this software. The source code must either be included in the distribution or be available in a timely fashion for no more than the cost of distribution plus a nominal fee, and must be freely redistributable under reasonable and no more restrictive conditions. For an executable file, complete source code means the source code for all modules it contains. It does not include source code for modules or files that typically accompany the major components of the operating system on which the executable file runs. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY MIKE MINTZ AND ROBERT EKENDAHL ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MIKE MINTZ AND ROBERT EKENDAHL OR ITS 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. === END === Thanks! SK [1] Trustter. http://www.trusster.com [2] Teal. A Verification Utility and Connection Library. http://www.trusster.com/products/teal/ -- Shakthi Kannan http://www.shakthimaan.com

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Proper description of mysql's documentation license?
by Tom Lane 20 Feb '10

20 Feb '10

Bug #560181 correctly points out that although mysql's code is distributed under GPL, the associated documentation is not. The reporter proposes classifying it as "Redistributable, no modification permitted", but I thought I'd ask this list about opinions on the best license tag for it. The doc license looks like this: Copyright 1997-2008 MySQL AB, 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. This documentation is NOT distributed under a GPL license. Use of this documentation is subject to the following terms: You may create a printed copy of this documentation solely for your own personal use. Conversion to other formats is allowed as long as the actual content is not altered or edited in any way. You shall not publish or distribute this documentation in any form or on any media, except if you distribute the documentation in a manner similar to how Sun disseminates it (that is, electronically for download on a Web site with the software) or on a CD-ROM or similar medium, provided however that the documentation is disseminated together with the software on the same medium. Any other use, such as any dissemination of printed copies or use of this documentation, in whole or in part, in another publication, requires the prior written consent from an authorized representative of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun Microsystems, Inc. and MySQL AB reserve any and all rights to this documentation not expressly granted above. Also: I am thinking of putting the docs into a separate -docs subpackage with its own License tag, rather than confusing matters by labeling the whole package with two very different tags. Any objections to that? Could the "with the software" bit above be read to prohibit such a scheme? Plan C would be to drop the docs entirely and just offer a link to mysql's website, but I don't like that very much ... regards, tom lane

4 6

PHP PEAR channel definition license
by Jon Stanley 08 Feb '10

08 Feb '10

I'm running into an interesting problem with PHP PEAR channel definition licensing. All that this really is is an XML file that defines where to get the channel, etc, similar to a yum repo definition. The problem is that there is no copyright specified for this file. Looking at other review requests, it looks like either the license field was pulled out of thin air with no explanation, or they used the license of the PHP modules distributed by the channel. This approach seems wrong to me, as there could obviously be modules covered by several different licenses. At a more basic level, is such a file a even a copyrightable work? I don't believe so, because it contains no creative expression whatsoever - it's just metadata

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Could we get EUPL v1.1 listed on http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing ?
by Caolán McNamara 26 Jan '10

26 Jan '10

Could we get EUPL v1.1 listed on http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing as either acceptable or not. I assume that its acceptable, seeing as the diff from v1.0 to v1.1 is apparently to address the concerns that saw v1.0 listed as unacceptable. C.

2 1

New package license review proposal
by Jason L Tibbitts III 17 Jan '10

17 Jan '10

I figured I'd start with this list and broaden to devel@ if people think it's a good idea. In doing (very) many package reviews, I've found one of the most time-consuming things to be doing a proper license review. Even something simple with, say, an LGPLv2+ notice can get complicated when a single GPLv2 file sneaks in. It's complicated enough that I suspect in many cases license review just isn't being done. Plus the complexities of licensing coupled with the complexities of our packaging guidelines really poses a high barrier for anyone wanting to do proper license reviews. So I'm proposing that we separate the roles of the package reviewer from the license reviewer, allowing someone who wants to concentrate on licensing do participate in the review process without having to deal with the complexities of the packaging guidelines (or even building the software). This isn't intended to preclude someone from taking a new request and doing both packaging and licensing review, but simply to allow folks to go through the existing reviews and indicate that they've been checked for licensing issues so that someone could later go through and review the packaging without having to struggle over the licensing. I propose to handle this with a simple entry in the whiteboard and a comment by the reviewer. I can add a report under http://fedoraproject.org/PackageReviewStatus listing tickets which need license review, and am prepared to write a utility to facilitate things as much as possible. When a license question comes up, FE-Legal would be blocked just as it is now. (Apologies to spot.) I would ask for help from others to document the license review process as much as possible. I think in the end that with a dedicated team of folks doing license checks, we can get the review process moving a bit quicker and cut down on incidences of unwanted things leaking into the distro that have to be cleaned up later. - J<

3 6

amap license
by Michal Ambroz 14 Jan '10

14 Jan '10

Hello dear list members, I would like to ask whether the amap license and amap program itself would be eligible to be included in the Fedora. Tool is opensource with license based on GPLv2 with additional restrictions, but I am not sure whether it is free enough to create amap package for Fedora. http://freeworld.thc.org/thc-amap/ Thank you Michal Ambroz ------------------------- License ---------------------- LICENCE FOR AMAP (all version) by van Hauser <vh(a)thc.org> 1. This software comes with no warrenty or promised features. If it works for you - fine. It just comes "AS-IS", which means as a bunch of bits and bytes. 2. Anyone may use this software and pass it on to other persons or companies as long as it is not charged for! (except for a small transfer/medium fee) 3. This tool may *NOT* be used for illegal purpose. Please check the law which affects your doing. I will have got no liability for any damage etc. done with this tool legally or illegaly. 4. If this tool is used while providing a commercial service (e.g. as part of a penetration test) the report has to state the tools name and version, and additionally the authors (van Hauser and Dj RevMoon) and the distribution homepage (http://www.thc.org) 5. If this tool is used within a commercial tool (being called out of such a tool or being incorporated), the report generated has to state the tools name and version, and additionally the authors (van Hauser and Dj RevMoon) and the distribution homepage (http://www.thc.org) A tool is "commercial" if it either costs money to purchase it, has a license fee, and/or has costs for upgrades. Additionally, a commercial version or license etc. must be made available to the author free of charge. 6. In all other respects the GPL 2.0 applies

4 6

I think this is a BSD style license, what do you think?
by threethirty 13 Jan '10

13 Jan '10

Hello all: I'm working with the marketing team and we are wanting to run Lime Survey which is GPL V2, which isn't a problem but as part of the package there is datetimeconverter that has this as its license: "You are free to use this code free of charge, modify it, and distrubute it, just leave this comment block at the top of this file." Attached is the file that has the file that is being discussed, and here is what else is left to do if anyone wants to help :) http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Things_to_do_to_finish_Limesurvey Thanks, -- Justin "threethirty" O'Brien Fedora Ambassador threethirty(a)fedoraproject.org http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Threethirty threethirty on freenode.net @threethirty - twitter/identi.ca/jaiku Phone: (765) 688-0723

2 1

unable to define license type
by Jiri Skala 05 Jan '10

05 Jan '10

Hello, I found a license cited below during srpm review. I'm not able to define what kind of license is it. Could you help me with it? The source is a part of iputils package together with other sources/binaries. There is more type of licenses. Particular binaries contains sources of one license type. The package is used in Fedora and RHEL-6. I suppose spec file license definition should appear: License: BSD with advertising and GPLv2+ and <unknown_licence> Thank you for your help in advance Best regards Jiri Unknown license type: * Rdisc (this program) was developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. and is * provided for unrestricted use provided that this legend is included on * all tape media and as a part of the software program in whole or part. * Users may copy or modify Rdisc without charge, and they may freely * distribute it. * * RDISC IS PROVIDED AS IS WITH NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING THE * WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR * PURPOSE, OR ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING, USAGE OR TRADE PRACTICE. * * Rdisc is provided with no support and without any obligation on the * part of Sun Microsystems, Inc. to assist in its use, correction, * modification or enhancement. * * SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE * INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHTS, TRADE SECRETS OR ANY PATENTS BY RDISC * OR ANY PART THEREOF. * * In no event will Sun Microsystems, Inc. be liable for any lost revenue * or profits or other special, indirect and consequential damages, even if * Sun has been advised of the possibility of such damages. * * Sun Microsystems, Inc. * 2550 Garcia Avenue * Mountain View, California 94043

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legal January 2010