[Fedora-legal-list] "Whatever" license

Eric Smith eric at brouhaha.com
Sun Apr 17 02:38:20 UTC 2011


I'm working on packaging GSmartControl.  Most of it is under a "GPLv2 or 
GPLv3" license, some is BSD, some is zlib, some is Boost.

Some files have no notice, and their COPYING file says "All files which 
don't have any copyright notices, as well as tests and examples are 
covered under the Whatever License. See LICENSE_whatever.txt for details."

LICENSE_whatever.txt says:

     Whatever License

     THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS-IS', WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
     WARRANTY.  IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHORS BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
     ARISING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

     Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim or modified
     copies of this license document.

     Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
     including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
     freely.

Is this an acceptable license for Fedora?  If so, what should it be 
called in the License tag in the spec file?

When there are both "or" and "and" conditions involved in multiple 
licensing, how is that conveyed in the License tag?  Can I use 
parenthesis, e.g.

     License:    (GPLv2 or GPLv3) and BSD and zlib and Boost and Whatever

Thanks!
Eric




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