[Fedora-legal-list] License clarification dxflib

[Volker Froehlich]

Dear RibbonSoft!

I'm a packager with the Fedora GNU/Linux distribution. I'm packaging
SAGA GIS (https://sourceforge.net/projects/saga-gis/), which uses
dxflib.

I read that the "Open Source Edition" of dxflib was licensed under the
terms of GPL version 2. While this is clearly stated in the headers of
the source code, the file dxflib_commercial_license.txt causes us
headache.

"""
NOTE: dxflib Open Source Edition is licensed under the terms of the 
GPL and not under this Agreement. If Licensee has, at any time, 
developed all (or any portions of) the Application(s) using RibbonSoft's
publicly licensed dxflib Open Source Edition, Licensee must comply 
with RibbonSoft's requirements and license such Application(s) 
(or any portions derived there from) under the terms of the Free
Software Foundation's GNU General Public License version 2 (the "GPL") a
copy of which is located at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html#SEC1 
(i.e., any Product(s) and/or parts, components, portions thereof
developed using GPL licensed software, including dxflib Open Source
Edition, must be licensed under the terms of the GPL, and the GPL-based
source code must be made available upon request).
"""

Tom Callaway of Red Hat found this statement was not in line with the
GPL and therefore non-free:

http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/legal/2011-October/001734.html

It'd be great if we could work this out together. A clear license
situation would allow to include dxflib in Fedora and other
distributions that care about software freedom.

Sincerely,

Volker Fröhlich