Yet another license question

Kevin Kofler kevin.kofler at chello.at
Tue Oct 3 05:44:45 UTC 2006


Ralf Corsepius <rc040203 at ...> writes:
> 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
>    must display the following acknowledgement:
>      This product includes software developed by the University of
>      California, Berkeley and its contributors.
> </citation>
> 
> Note: "ADVERTISING materials ... or USE ..."

Well, an "advertising material mentioning use of this software" is not the same 
as "Any publications or presentations, including but not limited to journal 
articles, web publications, or conference presentations or proceedings, 
resulting from the use of this software". This clause is a lot more broad. It's 
as if LaTeX required you to quote a paper on LaTeX in each and every paper you 
write with it, or if the GIMP required you to quote a paper next to any picture 
you edit using it.

While I don't have any decisive power whatsoever on Fedora, I'd really urge 
those who do to at least get this issue reviewed (maybe ask the FSF?) before 
issueing a blanket "it's OK", because I believe this to be a serious issue and 
a worrying precedent.

        Kevin Kofler




More information about the fedora-extras-list mailing list