Bug 356326 - Code in kdenetwork is licensed under the non-free ARTISTIC license.
Summary: Code in kdenetwork is licensed under the non-free ARTISTIC license.
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: kopete
Classification: Applications
Component: IRC Plugin (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Debian stable Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Kopete Developers
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2015-12-06 00:26 UTC by Dennis Worthem
Modified: 2016-05-16 13:11 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:


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Description Dennis Worthem 2015-12-06 00:26:22 UTC
I am a volunteer working on gNewSense, a free ( as defined by the Free Software Foundation (FSF)) GNU/Linux distro where the next version (4) will be based on Debian Wheezy.

 We noticed that KDE has dependencies on the Artistic License 1.0 which the FSF does not regard as free or is at least ambiguous (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#NonFreeSoftwareLicenses) and they encourage use of the Artistic License 2.0 (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses).

Specifically we noticed in /kdenetwork-4.8.4/kopete/protocols/irc/ksparser.h (the kdenetwork package for Debian Wheezy)

/* This file is part of the KDE project
   Copyright (C) 2001 Simon Hausmann <hausmann@kde.org>

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it under the terms of the Artistic License.
*/
 
Can the license be changed to  "Artistic 2.0 License" instead of "Artistic License"?
Comment 1 Dennis Worthem 2015-12-07 04:14:15 UTC
Perhaps a better solution would be to relicense under (L)GPL v. 3.
Comment 2 Pali Rohár 2015-12-15 19:44:20 UTC
Dennis, this relicencing depends on authors of that code. Anyway IRC plugin was not completely ported to KDE4 (yet!) and so is disabled at compile time. So for gNewSense I suggest you to drop IRC source code as quick fix.
Comment 3 Dennis Worthem 2015-12-21 14:59:50 UTC
I noticed all the other source code files in  /kdenetwork-4.8.4/kopete/protocols/irc/ are licensed under GPL v.2 including ksparser.cpp.  Seems incongruous that the implementation file is licensed differently than the header file, ksparser.h.
Comment 4 Rex Dieter 2016-05-09 11:57:32 UTC
The code in question clearly does not comply with project licensing policy,
https://community.kde.org/Policies/Licensing_Policy

Options include:
* relicensing (of course)
* removing the code (since it apparently unused)
Comment 5 Pali Rohár 2016-05-12 08:54:54 UTC
IRC code is going to be rewritten (from scratch). So after that new IRC
code should fix also this problem.
Comment 6 Rex Dieter 2016-05-12 12:03:42 UTC
Except the code is non-compliant *now*, any objections to my removing it (since it's not used)?
Comment 7 Pali Rohár 2016-05-12 12:14:30 UTC
On Thursday 12 May 2016 12:03:42 Rex Dieter via KDE Bugzilla wrote:
> Except the code is non-compliant *now*, any objections to my removing it (since
> it's not used)?

It is not compliant not only now, but for longer time. If we are able to
wait and deal with it for years, I think we can also another period of
time...

I do not want to break something... (Need to check how to modify build
infrastructure, etc, ...) And also do want to invest time for code which
will be replaced.

Development time for Kopete can be used in better way.

As I said, this problem will be resolved by rewriting IRC code.
Comment 8 Rex Dieter 2016-05-12 12:19:18 UTC
I understand that, but the code is broken *now*.

It is both non-compliant by policy and arguably not legally (freely) redisitributable.  By not acting, it tarnishes both kde.org and downstream distributions as well.  There is no wiggle room here, the code *must* be fixed asap.

I'm offering to do the work to address this, if needed.
Comment 9 Rex Dieter 2016-05-12 12:31:18 UTC
OK, I'm not a lawyer, but re-reading the artistic license text, I think downstreams are likely safe in the default case (my distribution)

If this code is enabled (e.g.  via -Dwith_IRC=ON), the combined work becomes no longer legally redistributable.
Comment 10 Pali Rohár 2016-05-12 12:36:00 UTC
On Thursday 12 May 2016 12:19:18 Rex Dieter via KDE Bugzilla wrote:
> I'm offering to do the work to address this, if needed.

Ok, if you want to spend time on it, feel free to do.

But please contact Harsh Shah (harshcrop). His GSoC project for Kopete
is writing new IRC protocol. So please decide with him how and what to
remote/modify to prevent merge conflicts, etc...
Comment 11 Rex Dieter 2016-05-12 12:36:56 UTC
My "fix" is the simple course of removing the offending file, to bring this all into compliance.
Comment 12 Jonathan Riddell 2016-05-12 14:10:49 UTC
I've e-mailed the copyright holders to ask if this can be relicenced.

One other option would be to backport the .h file from the .cpp file which is probably quite do-able.

Otherwise it needs to be removed so that kopete can continue to be distributed.
Comment 13 Jonathan Riddell 2016-05-13 10:04:06 UTC
Copyright holders confirm it can be changed so committed that change
Comment 14 Rex Dieter 2016-05-13 17:48:31 UTC
Thanks!
Comment 15 Dennis Worthem 2016-05-13 23:09:39 UTC
So what exactly was the change?

Thanks
Comment 16 Rex Dieter 2016-05-16 12:53:57 UTC
I don't see anything committed to kopete's git (since Apr 08) either.

Did you maybe forget to push the changes or is it someone else's responsibility to commit the changes?
Comment 17 Pali Rohár 2016-05-16 12:56:33 UTC
On Monday 16 May 2016 12:53:57 Rex Dieter via KDE Bugzilla wrote:
> I don't see anything committed to kopete's git (since Apr 08) either.

I do not see any patches on reviewboard, nor in kopete-devel mailing list...

> Did you maybe forget to push the changes or is it someone else's responsibility
> to commit the changes?

I can commit changes, but first need to see patches (on reviewboard or ML).
Comment 18 Jonathan Riddell 2016-05-16 13:04:09 UTC
sorry, pushed now
Comment 19 Rex Dieter 2016-05-16 13:05:29 UTC
Thanks, for posterity, a link to the commit,

https://quickgit.kde.org/?p=kopete.git&a=commit&h=5db7f93d05d61a043d62884820faefb57de7e28b
Comment 20 Pali Rohár 2016-05-16 13:11:21 UTC
On Monday 16 May 2016 13:04:09 Jonathan Riddell via KDE Bugzilla wrote:
> sorry, pushed now

Ok, but you are missing BUG keyword in commit message... :-(
That could allow us in future to map commit into bug.