Thanks. If he allow me to do it, I should include that mail including all headhers in docs section of the package, right? Miro Hrončok Jabber: miro@xxxxxxxxxx Telefon: +420777974800 2012/10/5 Tom Callaway <tcallawa@xxxxxxxxxx>: > On 10/05/2012 08:52 AM, Miro Hrončok wrote: >> Hello, I asked an author of a public code I want to package to Fedora, >> this is his answer: >> >>> You are free to use the code in any way you choose, including attempting to sell it for >>> a profit (I think people have). The code was written long before licenses became standardized. >>> Best regards, >>> Steve Fortune >> >> When I asked him to specify the license, he added: >> >>> It's unlicensed. I just gave you permission to use it. >> >> Is it possible to package this into Fedora? >> Thanks for your help. > > Unfortunately, no. His wording is inconsistent and confusing. Saying > something is unlicensed means that we only have the minimum permissions > granted by copyright law, which is not enough for us to include it in > Fedora. If we ignore that (which we can't), his statement of permission > to use the code in any way we choose is also incomplete, because "use" > has a specific legal meaning, and it does not include things like > modification or distribution (although, the latter is somewhat implied > in his "permission" to attempt to sell the code for a profit). > > I would ask him politely if he would be willing to permit us to > distribute his code under the terms of the MIT license (extremely > permissive terms): > > 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 AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY > CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, > TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE > SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. > > He can grant us this permission without needing to change his code, > since he is the copyright holder, and it will make this software > permissible in Fedora. > > Hope that helps, > > ~tom > > == > Fedora Project _______________________________________________ legal mailing list legal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/legal
