Package: labplot
Version: 1.5.1.6-1
Severity: minor
Several clarifications seem to be needed with respect to the license
seem to be needed in the copyright file.
1) First, the NetCDF license listed states:
Further, UCAR requests that the user credit UCAR/Unidata in any
publications that result from the use of this software or in any product
that includes this software.
If this is read as an obligation, it would be a BSD-like advertising
clause that would conflict with the GPL. However, the upstream NetCDF
authors have clarified the license to read
(http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/copyright.html):
Further, UCAR requests that the user credit UCAR/Unidata in any
publications that result from the use of this software or in any product
that includes this software, although this is not an obligation.
I would recommend updating the netCDF code (and license statement) to
a recent upstream version, to remove any doubt about the GPL
compatibility.
2) Second, several files do not seem to be GPL-licensed, and their legal
status is unclear.
audiofile/extended.c is listed as "Copyright (C) 1988-1991 Apple
Computer, Inc. All rights reserved." with no further permissions. This
file looks dangerously non-free.
audiofile/g711.c is "a product of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and is provided
for unrestricted use. Users may copy or modify this source code without
charge." Unfortunately, this is quite a sloppy legal license, and does
not explicitly grant the right to *sell* the software (required to be
DFSG-free) and not just "use" it.
3) Although the copyright file lists the code as GPL version 2 only, I
can find no such restriction in the source code. I can't find a single
file that lists the copyright as being version 2 only...the files that
mention the GPL all list the copyright as being version 2 or later.
The cephes/COPYING file lists version 2 only, but that seems to have
been added by the Debian maintainers, since the authors' permission
email (in the debian/copyright file) does not specify a particular
version.
If the code is v2 or later, as opposed to v2-only, the debian/copyright
file needs to say so.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.16.33-vpsX (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
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