Re: licensing of textutils

[Peter S Galbraith]

Jim Meyering <address@hidden> wrote:

> Thanks.
> That wording was removed, at the author's request:
> 
>   date: 2000/01/21 15:07:53;  ...
>   Correct copying notice to use GPL, per author's request.

Call me relieved!

> FYI, the latest test release is here:
> 
>   ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/fetish/textutils-2.0.20.tar.gz

Thanks.  I was looking at the version packaged in Debian.

Peter

> Peter S Galbraith <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I was looking at the sources of textutils and found that:
> >
> >  - src/cut.c and src/paste.c are copyrighted by David M. Ihnat under
> >    this license:
> >
> >    "This program may be freely copied and distributed, provided this
> >     notice remains; it may not be sold for profit without express written
> >     consent of the author."
> >
> >  - a grep for the author "Ihnat" in THANKS or elsewhere in the top level
> >    directory yield nothing.
> >
> > Note that this license is non-free.  It doesn't allow selling (even in
> > an aggregate form) and it's doesn't even mention the distribution of
> > modified sources.
> >
> > I really hope this is all a misunderstanding and that the author really
> > did sign over this code to the FSF.
> >
> > If this message goes to a mailing list, please CC me in your reponses.
> > I'd be happy to hear quickly about the resolution of this bug, since
> > I'd hate to submit a release-critical bug against an essential package
> > in Debian GNU/Linux during the current release process of woody.
> >
> > Thanks for your attention,