Bug#404270: license violation - should clearly state this is not GPL

[Karl Schmidt]

I don't think the gnuplot license even qualifies it to be in Debian free:

From the license -
> Permission to modify the software is granted, but not the right to
> distribute the complete modified source code.

The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)

1. Free Redistribution

The license of a Debian component may not restrict any party from selling or giving
away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs
from several different sources. The license may not require a royalty or other fee for such
sale.

3. Derived Works

The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be
distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

Further - it explains the slow progress this package is making.

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Karl Schmidt EMail Ka...@xtronics.com
Transtronics, Inc. WEB http://xtronics.com
3209 West 9th Street Ph (785) 841-3089
Lawrence, KS 66049 FAX (785) 841-0434

If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the precipitate.

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[Andrzej Novak]

On Thu, Jan 10, 2008 at 05:43:19PM -0600, Karl Schmidt wrote:
> I don't think the gnuplot license even qualifies it to be in Debian free:
>
> From the license -
> >Permission to modify the software is granted, but not the right to
> > distribute the complete modified source code.

I'm not terribly familiar with debian-legal (so I don't know if this had been discussed before or not), but gnuplot is still DFSG-free, per #4:

> 4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
>
> The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in
> modified form _only_ if the license allows the distribution of "patch
> files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at
> build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software
> built from modified source code. The license may require derived works
> to carry a different name or version number from the original
> software. (This is a compromise. The Debian group encourages all authors
> not to restrict any files, source or binary, from being modified.)

And the copyright license for gnuplot does allow you to distribute the
modified version provided that you:

> 1. distribute the corresponding source modifications from the
> released version in the form of a patch file along with the binaries,

So it does qualify to be in Debian free, even though it IS
GPL-incompatible (e.g. it may not be distributed in binary form with the
GNU readline library linked to it), because of that additional restriction.

Regards,

Andrzej