[Fedora-legal-list] Trusting upstream website when code has no license

[Jason L Tibbitts III]

This may be a FAQ, but searching didn't turn it up.  If it's not
already documented, perhaps we could get it into the FAQ page because
this question comes up often enough when doing package reviews.

The problem is code which has no license information at all.
Sometimes there are copyright notices, sometimes not, and no mention
whatsoever of any type of license.  However, there's a mention of a
license at the upstream web site.

Now, obviously upstream should be prodded to get with the program.
But in the interim, is it sufficient to simply refer to the upstream
web site?  Keep a copy of it in the package (in case they decide to
change it for some reason)?  Or should this kind of software be
avoided entirely until upstream decides to release a version with a
properly included license?

 - J<