[Pkg-zenoss-team] [Zenoss] #1704: license problem: zenoss is not DFGS-free, the EULA is incompatible with the GPL license
Zenoss
trac at zenoss.org
Fri Oct 10 18:45:23 UTC 2008
#1704: license problem: zenoss is not DFGS-free, the EULA is incompatible with the
GPL license
--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------
Reporter: zenoss | Owner: edahl
Type: defect | Status: closed
Priority: high | Milestone: zenoss-2.0.1
Component: All | Version: 2.0.0
Severity: low | Resolution: fixed
Keywords: | Documentation: Not required
Installer: | Reviewed: 1
--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------
Changes (by bbibeault):
* documentation: => Not required
* reviewed: => 1
Old description:
> I'm packaging Zenoss for Debian and I just discovered that the EULA of
> Zenoss
> is not DFSG-free (i.e. it does not meet the Debian Free Software
> Guidlines),
> find below the reasoning. As the very minimum that implies that Zenoss
> can't be
> part of Debian (in theory it can be part of the non-free section though),
> but
> in fact it seems that some of the points mentioned in the EULA are
> incompatible
> with the GPL license and that makes the whole Zenoss not redistributable
> at
> all. Since you are redistributing changes to other free software products
> that
> might (I haven't yet checked) also mean that you are violating the GPL.
>
> I believe these problems are not intentional and only related to bad
> wording of
> the EULA and I really hope we can solve this to see Zenoss in Debian!
>
> * a first concern is about EULA acceptance by itself: you should not
> require a
> user to agree with an EULA for a GPL program. In principle a user can do
> basically anything with a GPL program, its usage is not restricted (the
> GPL
> mainly restricts what can be done when ''redistributing'' a program
> ...).
> Forbidding the usage via a EULA acceptance test is not acceptable and
> that is
> what you are requiring: if a user does not accept the EULA he should
> stop
> running Zenoss and remove it from its hard drive. In fact, since the
> software
> is GPL-ed, I as a Debian developer can even distribute in Debian a
> patched
> version of Zenoss which skip the EULA acceptance test: what would be the
> point
> then?
>
> * another concern is about points 8(b) and 8(c) which is a form of
> "choice of
> venue" which is not compatible with the GPL either
>
> * export control (point 6) is useless, it's the "default", why
> specifying it?
>
> * more generally a lot of the text in the EULA is advisory, what's the
> point of
> having it there?
>
> A change that would solve all the problems for me as a packager would of
> course
> be to remove the EULA entirely. The additional requirement you have to
> the GPL
> should be specified in the LICENSE file together with the GPL, but beware
> that
> all the changes should be ''compatible'' with the GPL above and all the
> changes I mentioned above are, TTBOMK, not.
>
> Until this point are resolved I fear we can not upload the package in the
> official Debian archive and that's a pity, since the package is almost
> ready!
>
> I'm not a lawyer, but I asked the advice of some guys of the debian-legal
> mailing list and they agree with the problematic points above (in fact
> they
> finger-pointed them to me upon my request). If you want the above
> reasoning to be
> translated in legalese I can ask them to do that, but I'm sure you will
> understand the main issues already starting from this message.
New description:
I'm packaging Zenoss for Debian and I just discovered that the EULA of
Zenoss
is not DFSG-free (i.e. it does not meet the Debian Free Software
Guidlines),
find below the reasoning. As the very minimum that implies that Zenoss
can't be
part of Debian (in theory it can be part of the non-free section though),
but
in fact it seems that some of the points mentioned in the EULA are
incompatible
with the GPL license and that makes the whole Zenoss not redistributable
at
all. Since you are redistributing changes to other free software products
that
might (I haven't yet checked) also mean that you are violating the GPL.
I believe these problems are not intentional and only related to bad
wording of
the EULA and I really hope we can solve this to see Zenoss in Debian!
* a first concern is about EULA acceptance by itself: you should not
require a
user to agree with an EULA for a GPL program. In principle a user can do
basically anything with a GPL program, its usage is not restricted (the
GPL
mainly restricts what can be done when ''redistributing'' a program ...).
Forbidding the usage via a EULA acceptance test is not acceptable and
that is
what you are requiring: if a user does not accept the EULA he should stop
running Zenoss and remove it from its hard drive. In fact, since the
software
is GPL-ed, I as a Debian developer can even distribute in Debian a
patched
version of Zenoss which skip the EULA acceptance test: what would be the
point
then?
* another concern is about points 8(b) and 8(c) which is a form of
"choice of
venue" which is not compatible with the GPL either
* export control (point 6) is useless, it's the "default", why specifying
it?
* more generally a lot of the text in the EULA is advisory, what's the
point of
having it there?
A change that would solve all the problems for me as a packager would of
course
be to remove the EULA entirely. The additional requirement you have to the
GPL
should be specified in the LICENSE file together with the GPL, but beware
that
all the changes should be ''compatible'' with the GPL above and all the
changes I mentioned above are, TTBOMK, not.
Until this point are resolved I fear we can not upload the package in the
official Debian archive and that's a pity, since the package is almost
ready!
I'm not a lawyer, but I asked the advice of some guys of the debian-legal
mailing list and they agree with the problematic points above (in fact
they
finger-pointed them to me upon my request). If you want the above
reasoning to be
translated in legalese I can ask them to do that, but I'm sure you will
understand the main issues already starting from this message.
--
--
Ticket URL: <http://dev.zenoss.org/trac/ticket/1704#comment:4>
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