Matthew East wrote:
I didn't attend the devel-meeting today. How was the discussion ?
I had a look at the log: the position seems to be that the licenses for packages which are accepted for redistribution in Ubuntu are ok, and I presume this means packages included in Ubuntu's "main" component only.
Here's an edited excerpt from the meeting log:04:30 mrevell "What is the position for packages which contain material which is distributed under licenses which aren't in [the opensource.org] list but which are still free?" 04:30 mrevell He continues: "Although the opensource.org website itself appears to be licensed under a Creative Commons (attribution) license, no Creative Commons licenses appear in the list, nor does the GFDL." 04:31 jamesh mrevell: are we talking about source code material or non-source code materiel? 04:31 mrevell jamesh: In mdke's particular case, he's talking about Ubuntu documentation. 04:32 SteveA mrevell: on the licence issue, what packages have GFDL or CC stuff that have given rise to this question?
04:32 mrevell jamesh: Some of which is GPL, some GFDL and so on.04:32 mrevell SteveA: I believe mdke is looking at using PPA to create packages for the docs team. 04:32 SteveA I think if something is good enough for the CC, it's good enough for us. That's just, like, my opinion.
04:32 SteveA kiko: what do you think? 04:33 SteveA the CC as in the Community Council04:33 jamesh SteveA: a lot of GNU packages have GFDL documentation which would bar them from our current T.O.S.
04:33 SteveA not the Creative Commons 04:33 kiko I agree with SteveA 04:33 kiko so perhaps our TOS needs amending04:33 SteveA jamesh: I'm proposing amending the TOS to include GFDL if the Com Coun has approved GFDL stuff for inclusion in ubuntu
04:33 kiko what SteveA said! 04:33 danilos I'd agree on that one04:34 mpt SteveA, Ubuntu CC approval makes sense as long as PPAs are only for Ubuntu 04:34 SteveA mrevell: so, the answer is, if you get a request to allow a licence that isn't in our TOS
04:34 SteveA mrevell: then check whether the CC allows it in Ubuntu 04:34 mrevell SteveA: thank you04:34 SteveA mrevell: if so, then ask on the launchpad list for an addition to our TOS
04:34 elmo GFDL is fine for Ubuntu 04:34 SteveA (perhaps by filing a bug)
That satisfies me fine, because the packages I'm interested in are; although if PPA is provided to people for more systems than Ubuntu (Ubuntu derivatives and Debian?), this may become problematic, as I think mpt pointed out during the meeting.
If that does give rise to problems, I wonder if it might be possible to combine references to opensource.org with a reference to GNU accepted free licenses [1]. That would cover the licenses I'm interested in and hopefully most others. [1] http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#SoftwareLicenses
Celso, do you have an opinion on that? -- Matthew Revell - talk to me about Launchpad Join us in #launchpad on irc.freenode.net
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(Formatted by MHonArc.)