Re: What is the licence of Debian-specific files (Was: Intent to package "vibrant" graphical library

[John Hasler <john@dhh.gt.org>]

I wrote:
> You cannot relicense someone else's work.

Anthony Towns writes:
> You can redistribute their work on different terms to those given to you.
> ``You must pay me $5'' instead of ``You must pay Joe $5'', for example.

If I got it as "public domain" (that is, "do whatever you want with this")
then that is not relicensing.  He said "do whatever you want with this" so
I did.

> This is why Bruce's relicensing of the map data works: you can get it
> from him with his license (GPLed), or you can get it from where he got
> it, with their license (pay us lotsa money, then do whatever you like).

Or you can get it from him, separate out the part that is their work, and
distribute it under their terms.

> The only reason you wouldn't be able to do this is if the terms on which
> you obtained the software said you could only redistribute it under some
> particular terms, which the GPL does, but X (and BSD) like licenses
> don't.

All licenses say under what conditions you may distribute the work: that is
what they are for.  The BSD places explicit conditions on redistribution:

  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  are met:
  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  2. 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.
  3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
     must display the following acknowledgement:
        This product includes software developed by the University of
        California, Berkeley and its contributors.
  4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
     may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
     without specific prior written permission.

-- 
John Hasler                This posting is in the public domain.
john@dhh.gt.org		   Do with it what you will.
Dancing Horse Hill         Make money from it if you can; I don't mind.
Elmwood, Wisconsin         Do not send email advertisements to this address.