Debian Bug report logs - #834756
RFP: powershell -- scripting language interpreter built on .NET

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

From: Luke W Faraone <lfaraone@debian.org>

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

Subject: ITP: powershell -- scripting language interpreter built on .NET

Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2016 16:27:23 +0000

Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
Owner: Luke W Faraone <lfaraone@debian.org>

* Package name    : powershell
  Version         : 6.0.0~alpha9 
  Upstream Author : Microsoft
* URL             : https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell
* License         : Expat
  Programming Lang: C#
  Description     : scripting language interpreter built on .NET

Microsoft recently released PowerShell as free software, and this month
announced support for Linux platforms.

>From a parausal of the source code, it appears to be suitable for inclusion in
Debian.

Message #16 received at 834756@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>

To: Luke W Faraone <lfaraone@debian.org>, 834756@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#834756: ITP: powershell -- scripting language interpreter built on .NET

Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:38:46 +0100

Hi,

On Thu, 18 Aug 2016, Luke W Faraone wrote:
> Microsoft recently released PowerShell as free software, and this month
> announced support for Linux platforms.
> 
> From a parausal of the source code, it appears to be suitable for
> inclusion in Debian.

I started looking at it but it's not clear that it's suitable for
Debian main. I found this in particular:
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/blob/master/license_thirdparty_proprietary.txt#L456

So while powershell itself is MIT licensed it also includes other
third party software, some of which is even announced to be proprietary.
The file starts with:
| IMPORTANT NOTICE:  THE SOFTWARE ALSO CONTAINS THIRD PARTY AND OTHER
| PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE THAT ARE GOVERNED BY SEPARATE LICENSE TERMS

And the lines that I pointed out above include some restrictions
which probably fall short of our "No Discrimination Against Fields of
Endeavor" rule.

| You may not [...] include Distributable Code in malicious, deceptive or
| unlawful programs; or

And even more frightening:
| You may not [...] publish the software for others to copy; [...]
| use the software for commercial software hosting services.

In some other parts (Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure) we only have the
right to use, not to modify, etc.

So I think that powershell can only be packaged for non-free. Unless
it can be split into a free part with some non-free bits that can be
packaged separately. But even if that is possible, it will likely be
a significant amount of work and a pain to maintain over time.

Cheers,
-- 
Raphaël Hertzog ◈ Debian Developer

Support Debian LTS: https://www.freexian.com/services/debian-lts.html
Learn to master Debian: https://debian-handbook.info/get/

Message #23 received at 834756@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Paolo Greppi <paolo.greppi@libpf.com>

To: 834756@bugs.debian.org

Cc: hertzog@debian.org

Subject: license

Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 12:02:54 +0100

In theory powershell 6.0 relies on .NET Core which is also MIT-licensed:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/powershell/2018/01/10/powershell-core-6-0-generally-available-ga-and-supported/

The cited 3-rd party license restrictions are for .NET which is not really "INCLUDED" in pwsh.

But this is my interpretation, so I have asked upstream to clarify.

Paolo

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