XFree86 License Change

[Bevan C. Bennett]

Rodolfo J. Paiz wrote:
> At 09:36 2/18/2004, you wrote:
> 
>> Read this morning on Slashdot that other distros are not going to 
>> support 4.4 due to this problem.  I think Debian is backing out of 4.4 
>> and going back to 4.3.
> 
> 
> Anyone care to comment on the consequences and implications for the 
> end-user? I am not particularly license-literate, so while this raises a 
> great deal of concern I am not sure quite what to make of it.

The problems are more for the distributor than the end-user.

Basically, the new license adds a new restriction (specifying that 
documentation must contain a specific acknowledgement). Meanwhile, the 
GPL forbids redistribution if any new restrictions are added.

If you compiled a program that included both GPLd and new-X11 code, you 
could not distribute the resulting binary without breaching one or the 
other of the licenses... so you can't distribute it at all.

Whether linking to a library constitutes inclusion and the creation of a 
derivative work is a somewhat contentious and poorly defined issue. If 
it does, then distributing any GPL code that links to X11 libraries is 
also illegal.

Hopefully things will get sorted out and we won't need to worry at all.
In any case, the only implications for an end-user are what their 
distributors will legally be able to make available to them.