Hi,
I would like to package three network device drivers for IBM S/390 (see
ITPs #108709, #108710, #108711).
The device drivers are provided by IBM as OCO (object code only) modules
(i.e. there are no sources available) and they are released under a
special IBM "International License Agreement for Non-Warranted Programs"
(to see the license agreement click on one of the
"{lcs,qdio,qeth}-2.4.5-s390-2.tar.gz" hyperlinks on
http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/linux390/download_obj.html+).
This raises a few questions:
- Does the license allow distribution of the oco-drivers with Debian?
From item 1. of the license agreement I derive that this is possible
as long as
a) Debian assures that the license agreement is distributed with the
oco-driver and
b) that the user explicitely agrees with the terms of the license
(actually the user can not download the oco-drivers from the
IBM web site without explicitely accepting the agreement).
I think a) is definitely not a problem and b) could be realized by
asking the user before installing the oco-driver whether (s)he agrees
with the license (could probably be done in the preinstall-script?).
- Are there any pitfalls in the license agreement I may have overseen?
- Can the oco-drivers go into non-free?
Since there is no source code available, the oco-drivers are not DFSG
compliant and therefore could not go into "main" or "contrib". So,
from the Debian POV, is it acceptable to put them into non-free?
Citing from a footnote in the Debian Policy Manual (version 3.5.5.0,
2001-06-01, section "2.1.4 The non-free section"):
"It is possible that there are policy requirements which the
package is unable to meet, for example, if the source is
unavailable. These situations will need to be handled on a
case-by-case basis."
Who finally decides whether such a package can go into non-free? What
would be the alternative, if the package could not go into non-free
(i.e. not be part of the distribution at all)?
Since the oco-drivers are needed on S/390 to establish direct
external network connections they play an essential role in making
Debian usable on S/390. If we could not integrate them into the
distribution, this would be a major problem. We could, e.g., not
provide an official Debian install-ramdisk (that would have to go
into non-free as well) that supports installation via one of the
devices driven by the oco-drivers...
Awaiting your comments!
Jochen
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
