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Date:      Wed, 16 Jul 2003 13:44:24 -0400
From:      Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com>
To:        Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org>
Cc:        bryanh@giraffe-data.com
Subject:   Re: netpbm-Port
Message-ID:  <3F158EF8.90409@mac.com>
In-Reply-To: <20030716150546.GD1239@mails.so.argh.org>
References:  <20030716150546.GD1239@mails.so.argh.org>

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Andreas Barth wrote:
> at debian we're having problems with netpbm. This includes:
> - the many different licences that need permanent licence auditing
> - unwillingness to use manpages
> - inconsistent interface
> More at http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2003/debian-devel-200307/msg00542.html
> Is this a sole debian problem, or are you having similar problems? If
> so, it would be time-efficient to tackle the problems together. I'm
> unknown how FreeBSD works, and not subscribed to any list, so please
> send me direct answers after a decision has been made.

The FreeBSD port of NetPBM is marked "NO_CDROM", which means that FreeBSD 
doesn't distribute this software on the CD's that Wind River and other FreeBSD 
distributors sell.  You're right about the license situation being complex, but 
fortunately one can turn most of that problem over to the maintainer and the 
guys at sourceforge.net.  In particular, this utility, mentioned in 
docs/COPYRIGHT.PATENT:

/* hpcdtoppm (Hadmut's pcdtoppm) v0.6
*  Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994 by Hadmut Danisch (danisch@ira.uka.de).
*  Permission to use and distribute this software and its
*  documentation for noncommercial use and without fee is hereby granted,
*  provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
*  both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
*  supporting documentation. It is not allowed to sell this software in
*  any way. This software is not public domain.
*/

...violates the Open Source Definition, and should be brought to the attention 
of the maintainer for replacement or removal.

It is Bryan's responsibility to make sure that the distribution files of a 
project hosted at SourceForge are compliant with the OSD, largely so that 
organizations like Debian, FreeBSD, and the like are able to redistribute such 
projects without restriction.

Note that I am not criticizing Hadmut Danisch's license; I've got code out there 
under very similiar terms, such as Angband, and I've been dealing with some of 
the same license issues myself.  In other words, this is familiar territory.
It may be the case that the above license and the OSD represent a conflict that 
cannot be resolved, but:

http://www.pkix.net/~chuck/Licenses/NRL.html

...is an attempt to split the difference that might be of interest to you or others.

-- 
-Chuck

PS: Are you a member of SourceForge, Andreas?  If not, I can file a support 
request with regard to this matter if you like.

PPS: I don't regard HTML as an adequate replacement for manpages, either. 
Telling someone to go to an URL doesn't help one bit if they have a standalone 
system without net connectivity.  On the other hand, the solution to that aspect 
is even easier: if Bryan doesn't want to maintain manpages, fine: either someone 
else needs to step up and do so, or else it won't be done.




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