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Re: [fetchmail]now this is fun

2001-09-26 03:54:24
Rob Funk <rfunk(_at_)funknet(_dot_)net>:
Well, the problem is the licensing, so it's hard to avoid at least a
bit of license discussion.  Yes, OpenSSL is BSD-licensed, and getopt
is GPL.  The problem is that The original BSD license (which OpenSSL
has) includes the advertising clause, which is incompatible with the
GPL.  For details, see: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/bsd.html

It seems that in recent weeks a lot of people have suddenly noticed
that the OpenSSL license is incompatible with the GPL, and a lot of
SSL-modified programs have had to lose their SSL capabilities in order
be be legal.  (Obviously many people add those capabilities back in
for their own use.)  I've especially noticed this since I run Debian,
which is picky about these things.

My next thought is, all of fetchmail is covered by the GPL, so why
are only the getopt files considered conflicting.  My guess is that as
copyright holder, ESR can link fetchmail with anything, but the FSF is
the copyright holder for the getopt files.  ESR, your comments here
would be appreciated.

That's it exactly.  I attached a specific exemption for OpenSSL to 
fetchmail's copy of the GPL.
 
I do wonder if the getopt files might fall under the GPL's exception
for things normally included with the OS, but I may not be remembering
the clause well.

I wonder that myself....

I didn't withdraw those files because I'm a licensing zealot -- I'm not.
I just don't want my users to be exposed to legal SNAFUs.
-- 
                <a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>

The men and women who founded our country knew, by experience, that there
are times when the free person's answer to oppressive government has to be
delivered with a bullet.  Thus, the right to bear arms is not just *a*
freedom; it's the mother of all freedoms.  Don't let them disarm you!


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