Licensing: gdb/osf-share/ is GPL-incompatible

Licensing: gdb/osf-share/ is GPL-incompatible

[Jan Kratochvil]

Hi,

Matej Cepl has found gdb/osf-share/ contains "BSD with advertising" license:

/*
 * (c) Copyright 1990-1996 OPEN SOFTWARE FOUNDATION, INC.
 * (c) Copyright 1990-1996 HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY
 * (c) Copyright 1990-1996 DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
 * (c) Copyright 1991, 1992 Siemens-Nixdorf Information Systems
 * To anyone who acknowledges that this file is provided "AS IS" without
 * any express or implied warranty: permission to use, copy, modify, and
 * distribute this file for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
 * provided that the above copyright notices and this notice appears in
 * all source code copies, and that none of the names listed above be used
 * in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software
 * without specific, written prior permission.  None of these organizations
 * makes any representations about the suitability of this software for
 * any purpose.
 */

This code is GPL-incompatible according to:
	http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OriginalBSD

Therefore gdb/+bfd/ etc. should contain an exception for its GPLv3+:
	http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLIncompatibleLibs

Found this gdb/osf-share code is referenced only by:
gdb/Makefile.in:
hpux-thread.o: $(srcdir)/hpux-thread.c
	$(COMPILE) -I$(srcdir)/osf-share -I$(srcdir)/osf-share/HP800 \
		-I/usr/include/dce $(srcdir)/hpux-thread.c
	$(POSTCOMPILE)

Or do I miss something obvious?  IANAL (Matej Cepl is).


Thanks,
Jan

Re: Licensing: gdb/osf-share/ is GPL-incompatible

[Mark Kettenis]

> Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:24:25 +0100
> From: Jan Kratochvil <jan.kratochvil@redhat.com>
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Matej Cepl has found gdb/osf-share/ contains "BSD with advertising" license:
> 
> /*
>  * (c) Copyright 1990-1996 OPEN SOFTWARE FOUNDATION, INC.
>  * (c) Copyright 1990-1996 HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY
>  * (c) Copyright 1990-1996 DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
>  * (c) Copyright 1991, 1992 Siemens-Nixdorf Information Systems
>  * To anyone who acknowledges that this file is provided "AS IS" without
>  * any express or implied warranty: permission to use, copy, modify, and
>  * distribute this file for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
>  * provided that the above copyright notices and this notice appears in
>  * all source code copies, and that none of the names listed above be used
>  * in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software
>  * without specific, written prior permission.  None of these organizations
>  * makes any representations about the suitability of this software for
>  * any purpose.
>  */

This is not the "obnoxious BSD advertising" clause.  The "obnoxious
BSD advertising" clause requires you to mention the copyright owner in
all advertising materials mentioning the softwate.  This copyright
notice requires you to do the opposite, i.e. not mention them at all.

> This code is GPL-incompatible according to:
> 	http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OriginalBSD

So whether the above is GPL incompatible is a whole different
question.  I'd say it is perfectly compatible with at least the spirit
of the GPL.  But since the lawayers got their paws on GPLv3, it turned
into completely incomprehensible gibberish and it is hard to tell.

Re: Licensing: gdb/osf-share/ is GPL-incompatible

[Joel Brobecker]

> > This code is GPL-incompatible according to:
> > 	http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OriginalBSD
> 
> So whether the above is GPL incompatible is a whole different
> question.  I'd say it is perfectly compatible with at least the spirit
> of the GPL.  But since the lawayers got their paws on GPLv3, it turned
> into completely incomprehensible gibberish and it is hard to tell.

If we need confirmation, it's easy to contact the FSF lawyers and ask.
The last time I asked, they were actually glad that we're trying to
be careful about legal issues...

-- 
Joel

Re: Licensing: gdb/osf-share/ is GPL-incompatible

[Jan Kratochvil]

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:53:19 +0100, Joel Brobecker wrote:
> > > This code is GPL-incompatible according to:
> > > 	http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OriginalBSD
> > 
> > So whether the above is GPL incompatible is a whole different
> > question.  I'd say it is perfectly compatible with at least the spirit
> > of the GPL.  But since the lawayers got their paws on GPLv3, it turned
> > into completely incomprehensible gibberish and it is hard to tell.

I misinterpreted it wrongly catching some words there, sorry.
This misintepretation I did myself, not Matej Cepl.

It looks now to me as the license type like:
	https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/BSD#3ClauseBSD

Which is claimed to be GPLv3 compatible at:
	https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing#Good_Licenses  


> If we need confirmation, it's easy to contact the FSF lawyers and ask.
> The last time I asked, they were actually glad that we're trying to
> be careful about legal issues...

Forwarded to <licensing@fsf.org> when it got discussed but guessing now it is
OK.


Sorry,
Jan