On 01/08/2015 02:56 PM, Jan Staněk wrote:
Hi guys, as the new BerkeleyDB 6.x has a more restrictive license than the previous versions (AGPLv3 vs. LGPLv2), and due to that many projects cannot use it, perhaps it is time to get rid of it from Fedora for good - or at least trim down the list of packages dependent on it as much as possible.
The previous license was the Sleepycat license, not the LGPLv2. The Sleepycat license requires distribution of source code of the application as well, not just the library, so it is closer in effect to the GPL than to the LGPL.
The AGPLv3 inherits the sell-yourself-into-slavery clause from the GPLv3 (*), so there are some cases where the new AGPLv3 license is less restrictive than the older Sleepycat license (depending on how the copyright owner interprets the older license—in the GPL case, it was argued that the sell-yourself-into-slavery permission was implicit in version 2).
(*) “You may convey covered works to others for the sole purpose of having them make modifications exclusively for you, or provide you with facilities for running those works, provided that you comply with the terms of this License in conveying all material for which you do not control copyright. Those thus making or running the covered works for you must do so exclusively on your behalf, under your direction and control, on terms that prohibit them from making any copies of your copyrighted material outside their relationship with you.”
The topic of BerkeleyDB v6 in Fedora was already discussed at this list [1], and it turned out that peaceful cooperation of multiple libdb versions in system is very problematic. As some packages cannot use newer versions, we are basically stuck with v5 - unless we get rid of it altogether or find another solution.
One of the recent press releases from Oracle specifically advertised Fedora support, so maybe they are interested in a closer collaboration, addressing Fedora's objections to the new license?
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