Debian Bug report logs - #191717
automake1.6: install-sh licensing nightmare?

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Matt Zimmerman <mdz@debian.org>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: automake1.6: install-sh licensing nightmare?

Date: Fri, 2 May 2003 23:21:18 -0400

Package: automake1.6
Version: 1.6.3-5
Severity: serious

I noticed this from a discussion in #148412 about gimp's licensing)

mizar:[~] head -16 /usr/share/automake-1.6/install-sh 
#!/bin/sh
#
# install - install a program, script, or datafile
# This comes from X11R5 (mit/util/scripts/install.sh).
#
# Copyright 1991 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
#
# Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its
# documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
# the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that
# copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
# documentation, and that the name of M.I.T. not be used in advertising or
# publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific,
# written prior permission.  M.I.T. makes no representations about the
# suitability of this software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is"
# without express or implied warranty.

Not only does automake not reproduce these notices in its documentation, as
required, but it also automatically installs a copy of install-sh into
automake-using packages when --add-missing is used.  The authors of these
other software packages are almost certainly not aware of this clause in the
install-sh license and how it affects their programs.

This problem also applies to automake1.4, and probably all other versions as
well.

-- 
 - mdz

Message #10 received at 191717@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org>

To: Matt Zimmerman <mdz@debian.org>, 191717@bugs.debian.org, debian-legal@lists.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#191717: automake1.6: install-sh licensing nightmare?

Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 02:53:27 -0500

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Fri, May 02, 2003 at 11:21:18PM -0400, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> Package: automake1.6
> Version: 1.6.3-5
> Severity: serious
> 
> I noticed this from a discussion in #148412 about gimp's licensing)

[snip standard MIT/X11 copyright notice and license]

> Not only does automake not reproduce these notices in its documentation, as
> required, but it also automatically installs a copy of install-sh into
> automake-using packages when --add-missing is used.  The authors of these
> other software packages are almost certainly not aware of this clause in the
> install-sh license and how it affects their programs.
> 
> This problem also applies to automake1.4, and probably all other versions as
> well.

Perhaps I'm being dense, but what do you want debian-legal to do about
this?  Clearly the authors of GNU Automake should get right with
licensing, but until and unless Debian is threatened by representatives
of MIT I don't think there's a reason to panic.

This issue should be brought to the attention of the automake upstream
maintainer(s).  That's a simple courtesy.  I do not think it is Debian's
job to enforce other people's copyrights.  Our only responsibilities in
this matter are to take reasonable steps to guard ourselves and our
users from copyright infringement liability.

Is your argument that because of the nature of GNU automake, it might be
causing our users to inadvertently infringe MIT's copyright?  If so,
that is indeed more serious, and the bug should be fixed by the Debian
maintainer.

Alternatively, we could just get someone to write a work-alike of MIT's
install program, place it into the public domain, and replace the one in
GNU automake with that.  I mean, come on, it's *install*.  It ain't
hard.

-- 
G. Branden Robinson                |      Mob rule isn't any prettier just
Debian GNU/Linux                   |      because you call your mob a
branden@debian.org                 |      government.
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |

[Message part 2 (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #15 received at 191717@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Eric Dorland <eric@debian.org>

To: Matt Zimmerman <mdz@debian.org>, 191717@bugs.debian.org, debian-legal@lists.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#191717: automake1.6: install-sh licensing nightmare?

Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 09:44:46 -0400

I've already contacted upstream privately about this and he is all
over it. They will either rewrite it from scratch, or perhaps update
the licensing terms since it seems at one point install.sh was
distributed later on in X11R6 without these licensing terms. I'll keep
you posted.

* Branden Robinson (branden@debian.org) wrote:
> On Fri, May 02, 2003 at 11:21:18PM -0400, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > Package: automake1.6
> > Version: 1.6.3-5
> > Severity: serious
> > 
> > I noticed this from a discussion in #148412 about gimp's licensing)
> 
> [snip standard MIT/X11 copyright notice and license]
> 
> > Not only does automake not reproduce these notices in its documentation, as
> > required, but it also automatically installs a copy of install-sh into
> > automake-using packages when --add-missing is used.  The authors of these
> > other software packages are almost certainly not aware of this clause in the
> > install-sh license and how it affects their programs.
> > 
> > This problem also applies to automake1.4, and probably all other versions as
> > well.
> 
> Perhaps I'm being dense, but what do you want debian-legal to do about
> this?  Clearly the authors of GNU Automake should get right with
> licensing, but until and unless Debian is threatened by representatives
> of MIT I don't think there's a reason to panic.
> 
> This issue should be brought to the attention of the automake upstream
> maintainer(s).  That's a simple courtesy.  I do not think it is Debian's
> job to enforce other people's copyrights.  Our only responsibilities in
> this matter are to take reasonable steps to guard ourselves and our
> users from copyright infringement liability.
> 
> Is your argument that because of the nature of GNU automake, it might be
> causing our users to inadvertently infringe MIT's copyright?  If so,
> that is indeed more serious, and the bug should be fixed by the Debian
> maintainer.
> 
> Alternatively, we could just get someone to write a work-alike of MIT's
> install program, place it into the public domain, and replace the one in
> GNU automake with that.  I mean, come on, it's *install*.  It ain't
> hard.
> 



-- 
Eric Dorland <eric.dorland@mail.mcgill.ca>
ICQ: #61138586, Jabber: hooty@jabber.com
1024D/16D970C6 097C 4861 9934 27A0 8E1C  2B0A 61E9 8ECF 16D9 70C6

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O? M++ V-- PS+ PE Y+ PGP++ t++ 5++ X+ R tv++ b+++ DI+ D+ 
G e h! r- y+ 
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Message #20 received at 191717@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Anthony DeRobertis <asd@suespammers.org>

To: Matt Zimmerman <mdz@debian.org>, 191717@bugs.debian.org, debian-legal@lists.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#191717: automake1.6: install-sh licensing nightmare?

Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 13:15:41 -0400

On Wednesday, May 7, 2003, at 03:53 AM, Branden Robinson wrote:

> Is your argument that because of the nature of GNU automake, it might 
> be
> causing our users to inadvertently infringe MIT's copyright?

Yes, that's the argument. See the first paragraph under the quoted 
material, which reads in part:
    "...but it also automatically installs a copy of install-sh
     into automake-using packages when --add-missing is used.  The
     authors of these other software packages are almost certainly
     not aware of this clause in the install-sh license and how it
     affects their programs."

Message #25 received at 191717@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Alexandre Duret-Lutz <duret_g@lrde.epita.fr>

To: automake-patches@gnu.org

Cc: 191717@bugs.debian.org

Subject: FYI: update install-sh's license

Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 19:57:55 +0200

I'm checking this in, on HEAD and branch-1-7.

Index: ChangeLog
--- ChangeLog
+++ ChangeLog
@@ -1,1 +1,7 @@
+2003-05-09  Alexandre Duret-Lutz  <adl@gnu.org>
+
+	* lib/install-sh: Update copyright notice and license to that of
+	X11R6.  This removes an advertising clause reported as Debian bug
+	#191717.
+

Index: lib/install-sh
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/automake/automake/lib/install-sh,v
retrieving revision 1.7.2.2
diff -u -r1.7.2.2 install-sh
--- lib/install-sh	29 Nov 2002 22:03:40 -0000	1.7.2.2
+++ lib/install-sh	9 May 2003 17:23:06 -0000
@@ -1,19 +1,37 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 #
 # install - install a program, script, or datafile
-# This comes from X11R5 (mit/util/scripts/install.sh).
 #
-# Copyright 1991 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
+# This originates from X11R5 (mit/util/scripts/install.sh), which was
+# later released in X11R6 (xc/config/util/install.sh) with the
+# following copyright and license.
 #
-# Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its
-# documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
-# the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that
-# copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
-# documentation, and that the name of M.I.T. not be used in advertising or
-# publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific,
-# written prior permission.  M.I.T. makes no representations about the
-# suitability of this software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is"
-# without express or implied warranty.
+# Copyright (C) 1994 X Consortium
+#
+# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
+# deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
+# rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
+# sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+#
+# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+#
+# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+# X CONSORTIUM BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
+# AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNEC-
+# TION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+#
+# Except as contained in this notice, the name of the X Consortium shall not
+# be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other deal-
+# ings in this Software without prior written authorization from the X Consor-
+# tium.
+#
+#
+# FSF changes to this file are in the public domain.
 #
 # Calling this script install-sh is preferred over install.sh, to prevent
 # `make' implicit rules from creating a file called install from it

-- 
Alexandre Duret-Lutz

Message #30 received at 191717-close@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Eric Dorland <eric@debian.org>

To: 191717-close@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Bug#191717: fixed in automake1.6 1.6.3-6

Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 20:47:40 -0400

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
automake1.6, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive:

automake1.6_1.6.3-6.diff.gz
  to pool/main/a/automake1.6/automake1.6_1.6.3-6.diff.gz
automake1.6_1.6.3-6.dsc
  to pool/main/a/automake1.6/automake1.6_1.6.3-6.dsc
automake1.6_1.6.3-6_all.deb
  to pool/main/a/automake1.6/automake1.6_1.6.3-6_all.deb



A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 191717@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Eric Dorland <eric@debian.org> (supplier of updated automake1.6 package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@debian.org)


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Format: 1.7
Date: Fri,  9 May 2003 20:24:42 -0400
Source: automake1.6
Binary: automake1.6
Architecture: source all
Version: 1.6.3-6
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: low
Maintainer: Eric Dorland <eric@debian.org>
Changed-By: Eric Dorland <eric@debian.org>
Description: 
 automake1.6 - A tool for generating GNU Standards-compliant Makefiles.
Closes: 191717
Changes: 
 automake1.6 (1.6.3-6) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   * libs/install-sh: Apply patch from upstream to resolve license
     issue. (Closes: #191717)
Files: 
 121715cec3250821dbc788952ebdb976 618 devel optional automake1.6_1.6.3-6.dsc
 16ff60855349e25ada9c665ab3d5793a 9224 devel optional automake1.6_1.6.3-6.diff.gz
 6974c83569c11a4c8d79cdf138662b05 299050 devel optional automake1.6_1.6.3-6_all.deb

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