Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Richard Freeman <rich0@g.o>
To: gentoo-dev@l.g.o
Cc: Zac Medico <zmedico@g.o>
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] RFC: ACCEPT_LICENSE default value (GLEP 23)
Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 19:02:15
Message-Id: 4A202B09.7000509@gentoo.org
In Reply to: [gentoo-dev] RFC: ACCEPT_LICENSE default value (GLEP 23) by Mounir Lamouri
1 Mounir Lamouri wrote:
2 > It looks like some licenses need acceptance.
3
4 I prefer the wording: some software vendors claim that their licenses
5 must be accepted to use the software. I'm not aware of any law which
6 requires a license to use software - at least not inside the USA (your
7 jurisdiction may vary).
8
9 A license is certainly required to distribute software - hence
10 RESTRICT="mirror" or USE="bindist". Users typically do not distribute
11 software, therefore users typically do not need a license to use it.
12
13 > I was thinking using a software
14 > means accepting the license. If we really need to make a user accept a
15 > license, printing the license path is enough ? He still can add the license
16 > name in ACCEPT_LICENSE without even reading it. However, I suppose
17 > adding the
18 > license name will be enough for an "approval".
19 > This leads me to think ACCEPT_LICENSE=* should be forbidden.
20 >
21
22 Frankly, I'd like to see ACCEPT_LICENSE=* be the default. If some are
23 concerned about the legal issues then have the default be ACCEPT_LICENSE
24 = * -@EULA and let users trim it down to "*" on their own. Portage
25 should not set arbitrary restrictions on preventing accepting *.
26
27 I'd definitely like the default to be that packages are accepted unless
28 a dev somehow indicates otherwise. The overwhelming majority of
29 packages out there do not have EULA issues.
30
31 Keep in mind that licensing is a legal issue, and legal issues are
32 determined by the law, and the law is determined by where you live. If
33 a user lives in a country that says you can sell Windows CD-Rs at a
34 Lemonade stand, it isn't the job of Gentoo to step in and tell them
35 otherwise. We want to give users the tools they need to help stay
36 compliant with the laws that govern them - we don't want to assume the
37 responsibility for their compliance.
38
39 At least, that is my two cents.

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-dev] RFC: ACCEPT_LICENSE default value (GLEP 23) Mounir Lamouri <volkmar@g.o>