From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,d0f6c37e3c1b712a X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada in Debian: most libraries will switch to the pure GPL in Etch References: <87irmlkq8w.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> From: M E Leypold Date: 29 Jun 2006 01:12:22 +0200 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii User-Agent: Some cool user agent (SCUG) NNTP-Posting-Host: 88.72.226.55 X-Trace: news.arcor-ip.de 1151535963 88.72.226.55 (29 Jun 2006 01:06:03 +0200) X-Complaints-To: abuse@arcor-ip.de Path: g2news2.google.com!news3.google.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!newsfeed.arcor-ip.de!news.arcor-ip.de!not-for-mail Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:5285 Date: 2006-06-29T01:12:22+02:00 List-Id: Ludovic Brenta writes: > No, the issue is the one you described in your first sentence. The > headers or COPYING file have no legal force, precisely because you > cannot prove that they apply to the software, and that they were > written by the author of the software. So, what Robert Dewar said is: > to be sure, you must ask the author. But can you rely on the author? Perhaps he is drunk at the time he answers or it's really the cleaning woman using his/her computer (illegally of course). I mean -- where should all that end? It is hardly believable that the author(s) (say ACT ...) distributed the libraries in question _years_ without aver noticing those copyright headers and COPYING files. If they did and left them in place (or well, did them put there themselves), that would constitute a declaration of intent, which IMHO seems mor convincing than some old e-mail I get from adacore.com: After all, E-Mail headers can be forged. But years of bootleg copies of GtkAda with copyright headers inserted without the knowledge of ACT, distributed even from the ACT site. Ridiculous. Regards -- Markus