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

puntogil at libero.it puntogil at libero.it
Tue Nov 12 08:56:47 UTC 2013


Il 12/11/2013 08:37, Manuel Faux ha scritto:
> On Tue, 12 Nov 2013 08:11:12 +0100
> Manuel Faux <manuel.faux at conf.at> wrote:
>
>> 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.
> I want to give the option to manually download the file, if one accepts
> the non-free license of Oracle. Which file system path would be
> appropriate to be prepared for that file? I would not feel comfortable
> to add the file to add the file inside /usr/lib/jvm/... or something.
>
> Manuel
-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

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