Hi!
It would be nice if we had an official ftpmasters' position. So far, all
we have are remarks on IRC.
The case here is the package "parallel" having recentlish grown a demand for
either a citation or 10000€. This is explicitely forbidden by the GPL FAQ:
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#RequireCitation
and interpreting the request as a demand rather than mere suggestion is
reinforced by the alternative being a (high) monetary fee rather than
nothing.
The issue has been raised by multiple people on multiple bug trackers.
Unless my analysis is wrong, I see the following options: either
* the demand is considered a part of the license, in which case the package
needs to be moved to non-free or removed from the archive completely
(depending whether the demand is considered overriding a part of the GPL3
or being a conflicting addition)
* the demand is a part of the code only. It then can be removed (as it
causes practical problems like #884793), against express wishes of the
upstream -- although in this case, per the legal demands made by upstream
in newer versions, we'd need to rename the package[1][2].
+ renaming doesn't sound like a bad idea: pkg:parallel diverts
/usr/bin/parallel from pkg:moreutils despite having a completely
incompatible interface, thus breaking unrelated software that depends
on moreutils. Folks on IRC seemed to be of opinion that this means
"programs with different functionality but with the same filenames"
rather than "two programs having the same functionality but different
implementations" (Policy 10.1) (authoritativeness of random folks on
IRC (even if otherwise qualified), again...).
In either case, four packages {,Build-}Depending on parallel would need to
be adjusted: freebayes roary symfony last-align.
[1]. Although how Ole Tange can claim trademark on a name used by Tollef
Fog Heen and others earlier is beyond me. The US registration is for
"GNU Parallel" rather than "parallel"...
[2]. And/or executable name.
--
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// cease using counterfeit alphabets. Instead, contact the nearest temple
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