Re: What distribution for xfbb
Hi!
On Sun, 19 Oct 1997, Craig Small wrote:
> G'day All,
> I was considering making a Debian package of xfbb, which is THE BBS
> program for amateur radio. I'm doing this for two reasons;
> 1) I'd like to make Debian the packaing system to use for amateur radio
> operators.
> 2) The current way of distributing xfbb and configuring it is a bit
> "tricky".
>
> I contacted the author and he is happy for me to distribute it, as long as I
> follow some conditions (essentially so he knows what I'm up to), this is
> good. from email from the author
>
> | The copyright for the program is as follows.
> |
> | AX25 BBS software - XFBB version 7.00
> | (C) F6FBB 1986-1997
> |
> | This software is in the public domain. It can be copied or
> | installed only for amateur use abiding by the laws.
Well, I'm not a lawyer but AFAIK this is completely nonsense: if the
author says its in the public domain, he/she can't put a copyright on it!
> |
> | All commercial or professional use is prohibited.
Aren't we professional? :-)
> |
> | F6FBB (Jean-Paul ROUBELAT) declines any responsibilty
> | in the use of XFBB software.
> |
> | ----------
> |
> | I'm not sure that it is written in good english, but I hope it can be well
> | understood.
>
> Now, it's a bit confusing, as it is a public domain program with
> restrictions. I think I might be able to change the copyright slightly if
> it is a bit confusing.
It's not only a bit confusing! I doubt we can distribute this package in
either section unless the license is corrected and a few restrictions are
removed.
Currently, the license does not say anything about distribution, so we
can't put it even in non-free.
> Now obviously, it is not going in the main distribution. It breaks
> Debian Free Software Guideline 5. I'm a little worried the wording, but
> not the author's intention, may be quite restrictive.
>
> The source code is not available, never has been and probably never will be.
> I think it can go in the contrib distribution, but I'd like to check first.
No, if it doesn't come with source it may only go into non-free (if we can
distribute it at all).
> So what's the verdict? Is there anything special I should ask the author.
I think so. Please show him our Social Contract (so he/she knows our
goals) and the Debian Free Software Guidelines. If he/she still doesn't
want to make source available and still wants to restrict commercial use,
he/she should have a look for other licenses. It looks like currently,
noone can use the program legally!
Feel free to ask, if you need more info.
Thanks,
Chris
-- _,, Christian Schwarz
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