[gpodder-devel] GPLv3 licensing change
- From: thp at perli.net (Thomas Perl)
- Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:36:02 +0200
Hello, Jeff!
On Mon, 2007-09-03 at 21:07 -0800, Jeff Spaleta wrote:
> Have you checked to make sure that the codebases you are using as
> dependencies, even optional deps are licensed compatibly with GPLv3?
I haven't checked the optional dependencies, but some of them are just
called with popen/subprocess/os.system, so I suppose the licenses don't
have to be compatible, as it's not considered linking(??).
I have yet to check the license of the dependencies (python-xml,
python-feedparser), but I suppose these are compatible. It would be very
helpful if you could check the licenses of the dependencies and report
back if you find any problems, the dependencies are listed here:
http://gpodder.berlios.de/dependencies.html
> If there are any codebases which are licensed under the GPLv2 without
> the option of using a later version then you have a compatibility
> issue which could end up biting anyone who wants to distribute this.
Here's what I've checked about the code that is _directly_ used in the
gPodder codebase and therefore currently distributed with gPodder:
The SimpleGladeApp.py file (which is used by gPodder "directly") is
Copyright 2004 Sandino Flores Moreno, and licensed under "LGPL 2.1 or
later", which should be compatible with GPLv3 and if not can be upgraded
to LGPLv3 (as it's "or later", right?).
The cache.py file (which is used by SVN gPodder) is Copyright 2007 Doug
Hellman which looks like a BSD-style license without advertising clause,
therefore being (to my knowledge) GPL-compatible, the exact license text
follows here:
=====================
# Copyright 2007 Doug Hellmann.
#
#
# All Rights Reserved
#
# Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and
# its documentation for any purpose 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, and that the name of Doug
# Hellmann not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to
# distribution of the software without specific, written prior
# permission.
#
# DOUG HELLMANN DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE,
# INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN
# NO EVENT SHALL DOUG HELLMANN BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR
# CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS
# OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
# NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN
# CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
=====================
All other things are implemented either by me or as a patch to the
"GPLv2 or later" gPodder source, which makes all patches and
contributions "GPLv2 or later", so this can be upgraded to GPLv3, or did
I miss something here?
Of course, IANAL, so any help and corrections are welcome :)
Thanks,
Thomas
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