On Tue, 2002-05-14 at 06:38, Anthony DeRobertis wrote: > CUPS now appears to include the following exception to the GPL. > Besides how ambiguous this is, does it discriminate against > fields of endeavor, e.g., producing non-Mac software, in > violation of DFSG 6?
[snipped Apple license exception clause] Disclaimer: I maintain the cupsys* packages for Debian. DFSG 6 says: "The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research." I would say that the new license does not fail DFSG 6 for these reasons: - Strictly speaking, I'm not sure that "writing software for Mac OS" is a "field of endeavor". There aren't any restrictions on the purpose of the software, use in a commercial enterprise, selling it, and so on. I think of this as the reverse of the typical GPL exception clause; instead of allowing linkage to a non-GPL-compatible library, we're allowing the code to be a library to a non-GPL-compatible app on a particular OS. - The strictest license in all cases is the straight GPL, which is a known free license. The only modifications to the GPL are a relaxation of its terms. - The license on CUPS does not (and never has, since it was GPLed) cover use. Since DFSG 6 enjoins authors from "restrict[ing]... from making use", no distribution restriction could fail DFSG 6 on its own (although a distribution restriction could fail other parts of the DFSG). > If it does, it'd be a really weird case ;-) It is weird. I think they would have been better off just dual-licensing with a non-free Mac-specific license; they hold the full copyright, after all. OTOH, I think I know where this is coming from. Apple really seems to like CUPS, and is paying Easy Software Products mondo buckage (at least, I hope so :-) to get it to play nice with OS X. They're probably a little skittish about the (L)GPL license terms, and the EasySW people would be placating them. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
