[ptx] Licencing problem between Hugin and Vigra

Florent Bayle florent.bayle at free.fr
Mon Sep 26 17:40:46 BST 2005


Hello,

I've read the "VIGRA Artistic License" [1], and it seems that :

 - Vigra is non-free (according to GNU definition of Free Software [2] or DSFG 
[3]) :
   "2. The Standard Version of the Library may be distributed as part
       of a collection of software, provided no more than a reasonable
       copying fee is charged for the software collection."
   "4. You may otherwise modify your copy of this Library in any way,
       provided that you insert a prominent notice in each changed file
       stating how and when you changed that file, and provided that you do
       at least ONE of the following:

        a. place your modifications in the Public Domain or otherwise
           make them Freely Available, for example by allowing the Copyright 
           Holder to include your modifications in the Standard Version of 
           the Library."

   This break the "freedom of redistribution", goes beyond copyleft and 
violates DFSG#3.

   This means that Vigra can't be put in "main" section of Debian, but only in 
"non-free".


 - Vigra licence is not GPL-compatible.

   This means that VIGRA LIBRARY CAN'T BE USED IN GPL'ED PROGRAMS like Hugin 
and thus that Hugin CAN'T BE INCLUDED IN DEBIAN.




Is there any chances to have Hugin or Vigra licence changing ? Is there any 
other ways to fix this ?

Thanks.


[1] : http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~koethe/vigra/LICENSE
[2] : http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
[3] : http://www.debian.org/social_contract.en.html

-- 
Florent - Hugin Debian packager
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