• Concern about a Sun license

    From Pierre Gruet@21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 10 15:50:02 2021
    Hello,

    When working on igv (which is currently in non-free), I stumbled upon
    the license [0] including the following:

    Sun grants you ("Licensee") a non-exclusive, royalty free, license to
    use, and redistribute this software graphics artwork, as individual
    graphics or as a collection, as part of software code or programs that
    you develop, provided that i) this copyright notice and license
    accompany the software graphics artwork; and ii) you do not utilize the software graphics artwork in a manner which is disparaging to Sun.
    Unless enforcement is prohibited by applicable law, you may not modify
    the graphics, and must use them true to color and unmodified in every way.

    I feel that the "disparaging to Sun" part is a blocker for including the software in the main section. Do you agree?
    And what about the last sentence?

    I am a bit concerned because a check in sources.debian.org shows some
    software currently in main embed files with the "disparaging to Sun" part.

    [0] https://sources.debian.org/src/igv/2.6.3+dfsg-3/src/main/resources-jlfgr-1_0/LICENSE/

    Thanks for your attention,

    Best regards,

    --
    Pierre

    P.S. : please CC-me, as I am not subscribed.

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  • From Francesco Poli@21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 10 23:50:02 2021
    On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 15:28:47 +0200 Pierre Gruet wrote:

    Hello,

    Hi!


    When working on igv (which is currently in non-free), I stumbled upon
    the license [...] including the following:
    [...]
    I feel that the "disparaging to Sun" part is a blocker for including the software in the main section. Do you agree?
    And what about the last sentence?

    My own personal opinion is that there are a number of showstoppers
    here, before the package can even be considered for inclusion in Debian
    (main).

    As far as DFSG-compliance is concerned, I took a look at its
    debian/copyright [file], assuming it is accurate.

    [file]: <https://tracker.debian.org/media/packages/i/igv/copyright-2.6.3dfsg-3>

    The license for src/main/resources-jlfgr-1_0/* states, in part:

    [...]
    | Sun grants you ("Licensee") a non-exclusive,
    | royalty free, license to use, and redistribute
    | this software graphics artwork,

    This grants permission to use and redistribute, but not to modify, thus
    failing DFSG#3.

    [...]
    | ii) you do not
    | utilize the software graphics artwork in a manner
    | which is disparaging to Sun.

    This specifically forbids some kind of use of the work, thus failing
    DFSG#6.
    I acknowledge that there may be other, copyright-unrelated, laws that
    already forbid slander and/or libel. But this clause adds a possibly overreaching license restriction that bans any use which may be
    considered disparaging to Sun.

    | Unless enforcement
    | is prohibited by applicable law, you may not
    | modify the graphics, and must use them true to
    | color and unmodified in every way.
    [...]

    This restates (more explicitly) that no modification whatsoever is
    allowed, thus making clearer that DFSG#3 is not met.


    If anyone is going to attempt to persuade the copyright holders of src/main/resources-jlfgr-1_0/* to re-license those files in a DFSG-free
    manner, please take into account that Sun Microsystems, Inc. has been
    acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2010 (as many people probably know),
    but these assets are not necessarily in the hands of Oracle right now
    (they could have been previously sold or donated to someone else).
    Anyway, if you manage to track down the current copyright holders,
    please try and persuade them to re-license under the Expat license, if possible.

    Another possibility could be to drop all those images from the package
    and replace them with DFSG-free equivalent images.


    In the meanwhile, I would recommended to also seek re-licensing
    (from Apache-1.1 to Apache-2.0) of src/main/java/org/apache/*
    The Apache-1.1 license is obsolete and has a clause (number 5) which I personally consider overreaching and non-free (although Debian FTP
    Masters seem to be OK with it).
    Since those files are copyrighted by The Apache Software Foundation,
    which switched to the Apache-2.0 license long ago, it's likely that
    they are willing to re-license...


    All the above concerns the DFSG-compliance.
    Other requisites may still have to be fulfilled, before the package can
    be considered for the [main] archive area...

    [main]: <https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html#the-main-archive-area>


    I am a bit concerned because a check in sources.debian.org shows some software currently in main embed files with the "disparaging to Sun" part.

    My own personal opinion is that a package in main with such a clause
    has a bug that should be reported...

    [...]
    P.S. : please CC-me, as I am not subscribed.

    Done.

    --
    http://www.inventati.org/frx/
    There's not a second to spare! To the laboratory! ..................................................... Francesco Poli .
    GnuPG key fpr == CA01 1147 9CD2 EFDF FB82 3925 3E1C 27E1 1F69 BFFE

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  • From Pierre Gruet@21:1/5 to All on Wed Aug 11 14:40:01 2021
    Dear Walter and Francesco,

    Le 10/08/2021 à 23:47, Francesco Poli a écrit :
    On Tue, 10 Aug 2021 15:28:47 +0200 Pierre Gruet wrote:

    Hello,

    Hi!


    When working on igv (which is currently in non-free), I stumbled upon
    the license [...] including the following:
    [...]
    I feel that the "disparaging to Sun" part is a blocker for including the
    software in the main section. Do you agree?
    And what about the last sentence?

    My own personal opinion is that there are a number of showstoppers
    here, before the package can even be considered for inclusion in Debian (main).

    As far as DFSG-compliance is concerned, I took a look at its
    debian/copyright [file], assuming it is accurate.

    [file]: <https://tracker.debian.org/media/packages/i/igv/copyright-2.6.3dfsg-3>

    The license for src/main/resources-jlfgr-1_0/* states, in part:

    [...]
    | Sun grants you ("Licensee") a non-exclusive,
    | royalty free, license to use, and redistribute
    | this software graphics artwork,

    This grants permission to use and redistribute, but not to modify, thus failing DFSG#3.

    [...]
    | ii) you do not
    | utilize the software graphics artwork in a manner
    | which is disparaging to Sun.

    This specifically forbids some kind of use of the work, thus failing
    DFSG#6.
    I acknowledge that there may be other, copyright-unrelated, laws that
    already forbid slander and/or libel. But this clause adds a possibly overreaching license restriction that bans any use which may be
    considered disparaging to Sun.

    | Unless enforcement
    | is prohibited by applicable law, you may not
    | modify the graphics, and must use them true to
    | color and unmodified in every way.
    [...]

    This restates (more explicitly) that no modification whatsoever is
    allowed, thus making clearer that DFSG#3 is not met.


    Thank you much for sharing your insights (and also the reference to the discussions about this license in 2005 and 2006)!


    If anyone is going to attempt to persuade the copyright holders of src/main/resources-jlfgr-1_0/* to re-license those files in a DFSG-free manner, please take into account that Sun Microsystems, Inc. has been acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2010 (as many people probably know),
    but these assets are not necessarily in the hands of Oracle right now
    (they could have been previously sold or donated to someone else).
    Anyway, if you manage to track down the current copyright holders,
    please try and persuade them to re-license under the Expat license, if possible.

    Another possibility could be to drop all those images from the package
    and replace them with DFSG-free equivalent images.


    I agree finding the owner could be difficult... as few of those images
    are really used by the software, I feel finding DSFG-free equivalents
    should be feasible.


    In the meanwhile, I would recommended to also seek re-licensing
    (from Apache-1.1 to Apache-2.0) of src/main/java/org/apache/*
    The Apache-1.1 license is obsolete and has a clause (number 5) which I personally consider overreaching and non-free (although Debian FTP
    Masters seem to be OK with it).
    Since those files are copyrighted by The Apache Software Foundation,
    which switched to the Apache-2.0 license long ago, it's likely that
    they are willing to re-license...

    Thanks for the advice.



    All the above concerns the DFSG-compliance.
    Other requisites may still have to be fulfilled, before the package can
    be considered for the [main] archive area...

    [main]: <https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html#the-main-archive-area>


    Yes this is true. I have already handled some of the remaining problems
    on my side.


    I am a bit concerned because a check in sources.debian.org shows some
    software currently in main embed files with the "disparaging to Sun" part.

    My own personal opinion is that a package in main with such a clause
    has a bug that should be reported...

    As the three of us have the same opinion, I will fill these bugs right now!


    [...]
    P.S. : please CC-me, as I am not subscribed.

    Done.


    Thanks again for your time and advice,

    Best,

    --
    Pierre Gruet

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