TrueCrypt

[Luke Macken]

Hi,

I'm wondering if the latest TrueCrypt license is acceptable for Fedora.

http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license

I know there have been issues with various ambiguities in the past, but
the rumor on the street is that their license has drastically improved.

Thanks,

luke

[Todd Zullinger]

Luke Macken wrote:
> I'm wondering if the latest TrueCrypt license is acceptable for
> Fedora.
>
> http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license
>
> I know there have been issues with various ambiguities in the past,
> but the rumor on the street is that their license has drastically
> improved.

I think this part make it unacceptable (I didn't even look much
further):

II. Terms and Conditions for Use, Copying, and Distribution

1. You may copy and/or distribute This Product, provided that You do
not modify This Product (for terms and conditions for copying and
distribution of modified versions of This Product, see Chapter III)

Chapter III does allow modified versions to be distributed if they are
not called Truecrypt, along with a number of other requirements.  And
there is an exclusion for operating system vendors, but that still
requires unmodified source to be what is built.

It don't smell like a free nor open-source software license to me. :)

[Tom Callaway]

On Fri, 2008-05-16 at 16:20 -0400, Todd Zullinger wrote:
> Chapter III does allow modified versions to be distributed if they are
> not called Truecrypt, along with a number of other requirements.  And
> there is an exclusion for operating system vendors, but that still
> requires unmodified source to be what is built.
>
> It don't smell like a free nor open-source software license to me. :)

Yeah, thats a really crappy provision. Software we can't patch is
difficult to maintain.

The documentation requirements in III.1.b are overbearing and III.1.d
are practically impossible for us to meet as worded.

Of course, we don't have to comply by anything in III.1, because Fedora
is an "operating system vendor", I suppose, but this license spins in
loops on itself. I'm betting it comes back as non-free, but I'll send it
along for formal judgement.

~spot