I have filed an ITP for octave-quartenion [1], a package from the Octave-Forge Project [2]. Its latest released tarball [3] contains a documentation file doc/quartenion [4] in PostScript format for which no source is available. There is also no Copyright notice in the file itself, and there are no licensing conditions neither, although the DESCRIPTION file [5] claims that the whole package is distributed under the GNU GPL v3+. I think this violates the DFSG.
I would really like to distribute the documentation file but the upstream author died recently [6] and the chances are small that the sources can be found. Is there any rule that applies to this case, I mean, when an author dies? A simple solution would be to strip the PS file from the tarball and, eventually, create an octave-quartenion-nonfree package containing it. Otherwise, we could generate a LaTeX file that reproduces that PS file. If we do that, what should be the Copyright notice and the licence statement? [1] http://bugs.debian.org/529732 [2] http://octave.sf.net [3] http://downloads.sourceforge.net/octave/quaternion-1.0.0.tar.gz?download [4] http://octave.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/octave/trunk/octave-forge/main/quaternion/doc/quaternion.ps?view=log [5] http://octave.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/octave/trunk/octave-forge/main/quaternion/DESCRIPTION?revision=5326&view=markup [6] http://eng.auburn.edu/programs/ece/staff/hodel-memorial.html -- Rafael -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
