How to handle non-free parts of a free software project

[puntogil at libero.it]

Il 12/11/2013 08:11, Manuel Faux ha scritto:
> On Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:08:10 -0800
> Toshio Kuratomi <a.badger at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:22:16AM +0200, Elad Alfassa wrote:
>>> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:13 AM, Manuel Faux <manuel.faux at conf.at>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>      NetBeans 7.4 requires a file called jnlp-servlet.jar which is
>>> part of the Oracle JDK and itself non-free licensed. The file is
>>> not required for building, but for specific functions of the
>>> software.
>>>
>>>
>>>      More concrete, the file is required if "one wants to build a
>>> packaged war file of JNLP version of a suite".
>>>
>>>      It seems like only the class
>>> jnlp.sample.servlet.JnlpDownloadServlet is required, but I could
>>> not find it in the OpenJKD.
>>>
>>>      How is this normally handled? Should we add a file to the docs
>>> which describes that for this specific functionality that file is
>>> required?
>>>      Manuel
>>>      --
>>>      devel mailing list
>>>      devel at lists.fedoraproject.org
>>>      https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
>>>      Fedora Code of Conduct: http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The answer is simple. Remove the file. Don't distribute it in
>>> Fedora. Have a README.fedora file in /usr/share/docs/netbeans (or
>>> whatever) which explains that this file was removed due to
>>> licensing issues and how to get it.
+1
>>>
>> Depending on the license, you may just need to remove the file in the
>> spec file or you may need to clean it from the tarball before that
>> tarball is uploaded to the lookaside cache (via fedpkg new-sources).
>>
>> You may also need to patch the software so that it gracefully handles
>> the lack of that file at runtime.  Perhaps removing the menu entry
>> that won't function or popping up a dialog to explain that the
>> netbeans we ship can't use that non-free functionality.
>>
>> -Toshio
> Thanks for your input.
>
> I already asked in the legal mailing list, and it was suggested that I
> might ask at Oracle if they change the license in a way that it
> complies to free software. But even if they would do it, it would take
> some time, and I don't want to wait for that. So in between I will go on
> by just don't shipping that file.
>
> Manuel

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: puntogil.vcf
Type: text/x-vcard
Size: 89 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/devel/attachments/20131112/fd71005a/attachment-0001.vcf>