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>>>>> On Mon, 20 Sep 2021, Alec Warner wrote: |
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> The devmanual discusses licensing as a core concept |
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> (https://devmanual.gentoo.org/general-concepts/licenses/index.html) |
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> but does not cover patents. My understanding is that we: |
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> - set RESTRICT=bindist when we are unable to redistribute binaries |
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> (e.g. due to a license or patent restriction.) |
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> - set RESTRICT=mirror when we are unable to redistribute source code |
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> (e.g. due to a license of patent restriction.) |
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IANAL, but IIUC patents only apply to programs that can run on a |
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computer. This is the case for binaries but not for source code. |
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In other words, we don't need mirror restriction for source tarballs |
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because of patents. |
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> - Sometimes, we remove patent encumbered source code from packages |
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> (e.g. with USE=bindist) so that we can build redistributable binaries |
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> with the patented features removed. |
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We do, but normally this doesn't prevent us from distributing the source |
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code. |
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> Could we add some text to the license concepts covering patents? It |
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> seems to have been omitted? |
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> Is my understanding of how we manage patented software correct? |
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