[Fedora-legal-list] Re: dcraw.c licensing ambiguity

[Tom "spot" Callaway]

On Thu, 2007-09-06 at 14:22 -0400, dcoffin at cybercom.net wrote:
> Hi Nils,
> 
>      How about this text:
> 
>    No license is required to download and use dcraw.c.  However,
>    to lawfully redistribute dcraw, you must either (a) offer, at
>    no extra charge, full source code* for all executable files
>    containing RESTRICTED functions, (b) distribute this code under
>    some version of the GPL, (c) remove all RESTRICTED functions,
>    re-implement them, or copy them from an earlier, unrestricted
>    Revision of dcraw.c, or (d) purchase a license from the author.
> 
>    The functions that process Foveon images have been RESTRICTED
>    since Revision 1.237.  All other code remains free for all uses.
> 
>    *If you have not modified dcraw.c in any way, a link to my
>    homepage qualifies as "full source code".
> 
>      I'm not sure "some version of the GPL" is precise enough.
> Are there any bugs in early GPL versions that I should know about?

I think the wording should probably be "(b) redistribute this code under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or (at your
option) any later version."

This is far less ambiguous, and avoids the GPLv1 (which the FSF really
doesn't want anyone using anymore).

~spot