[X2Go-Dev] [pkg-x2go-devel] Bug#784565: nx-libs-lite: parts are derived from non-free code

[Mike Gabriel]

Hi Francesco,

On  Mo 11 Mai 2015 21:36:59 CEST, Francesco Poli wrote:

> On Mon, 11 May 2015 09:26:36 +0000 Mike Gabriel wrote:
>
> [...]
>> As it seems, dxpc has been long ago relicensed to BSD-2-clause (for
>> v3.8.1 in/around 2002).
>
> This is great news, indeed!
>
>>
>> I have no exact clue, if NoMachine forked prior to that (if they quote
>> the old licensing terms, then probably they did).
>
> Yep, it's plausible...
>
>>
>> However, how do you see the situation considering that upstream
>> changed to BSD-2-clause a long time ago. What approach do you propose
>> for nx-libs-lite to get the issue fully fixed?
>
> If the fork has been performed before the DXPC re-licensing (as it's
> likely), I see two possible strategies:
>
>  (A) someone gets in touch with DXPC copyright owners and asks them
> whether the re-licensing may be considered retroactive (applicable to
> older versions of DXPC); in case the answer is negative, DXPC copyright
> owners should be persuaded to make the re-licensing retroactive

This is the way to go, I will pull in Kevin Vigor (the upstream author  
of DXPC) into this thread with my next email.

>  (B) nx-libs-lite upstream developers re-fork from scratch, basing the
> new code on a BSD-licensed version of DXPC (I suspect this may turn out
> to be somewhat painful...)

Yeah, indeed painful.

> Obviously, the optimal solution is (A). I hope it may work...
>
> Thanks for your time and for your prompt and kind replies.

Also, Michael DePaulo, one of the upstream NX maintainers noted that  
DXPC simply used a previous version of the BSD license, see [1]. The  
weakness of that ancient license template is that modification is not  
explictily allowed, but neither forbidden.

I think, regarding the historical usage of the BSD license predecessor  
and the switch to BSD-2-clause should be fine already (I am not a  
lawyer, though). I will contact DXPC upstream nonetheless and ask for  
a statement.

Greets,
Mike

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses#Previous_license

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