[tex-live] TEXINPUTS problem

David Kastrup dak at gnu.org
Sat Oct 16 14:43:18 CEST 2004


Vladimir Volovich <vvv at vsu.ru> writes:

> "OW" == Olaf Weber writes:
>
>  >> This is XeTeX, Version 3.14159-2.1-0.871 (Web2C 7.5.2) (INITEX)
>
> I didn't hear about the XeTeX before, and found it's website via
> google, and read the follwing license statement at
> http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=xetex_download
>
> ================================
> XeTeX license
>
> XeTeX is copyright ©1994-2004 by SIL International.

No other copyrights?  Sounds like an omission here.

> This software is copyright by SIL International. However, in the
> spirit of academic community, we do grant users of the software the
> right to share it freely with their colleagues, provided this is not
> done for commercial gain. The software distributed in this way may
> represent work in progress, and bears no warranty, either expressed or
> implied.

[...]

> I wonder, is it allowed to distribute GPL'ed components (XeTeX links
> with kpathsea, and uses Web2C's files) with such clearly non-free
> license?

The GPL would have this to say:

      4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the
    Program except as expressly provided under this License.  Any
    attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the
    Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights
    under this License.  However, parties who have received copies, or
    rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses
    terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

      5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have
    not signed it.  However, nothing else grants you permission to
    modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works.  These
    actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License.
    Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work
    based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this
    License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying,
    distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.

      6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on
    the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from
    the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program
    subject to these terms and conditions.  You may not impose any
    further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights
    granted herein.  You are not responsible for enforcing compliance
    by third parties to this License.

      7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of
    patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent
    issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
    agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this
    License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this
    License.  If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously
    your obligations under this License and any other pertinent
    obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the
    Program at all.  For example, if a patent license would not permit
    royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who
    receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only
    way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain
    entirely from distribution of the Program.


However, neither web2c nor kpathsea are licensed under the GPL.  The
web2c manual has this to say:

    File: web2c.info,  Node: Legalisms,  Next: References,  Prev: Font utilities,  Up: Top

    Legalisms
    *********

      In general, each file has its own copyright notice stating the copying
    permissions for that file.  Following is a summary.

      The Web2c system itself and most of the original WEB source files are
    public domain.

      `tex.web', the MLTeX code, `mf.web', and `bibtex.web', are
    copyrighted by their authors.  They may be copied verbatim, but may be
    modified only through a `.ch' file.

      MetaPost-related files, including `mp.web' itself, are copyrighted
    under X-like terms; the precise notice is included below.

      Finally, almost all of the Kpathsea library is covered by the GNU
    Library General Public License, but part of one file is covered by the
    regular GNU General Public License (*note Introduction:
    (kpathsea)Introduction.).  Therefore, the _binaries_ resulting from a
    standard Web2c compilation are also covered by the GPL; so if you
    (re)distribute the binaries, you must also (offer to) distribute the
    complete source that went into those binaries.  See the files `COPYING'
    and `COPYING.LIB' for complete details on the GPL and LGPL.


In contrast to that statement, the introduction to kpathsea for
TeXlive2003 states without exception:

      We distribute the library under the GNU Library General Public
    License (LGPL).  In short, this means if you write a program using
    the library, you must (offer to) distribute the source to the
    library, along with any changes you have made, and allow anyone to
    modify the library source and distribute their modifications.  It
    does not mean you have to distribute the source to your program,
    although we hope you will.  See the files `COPYING' and
    `COPYING.LIB' for the text of the GNU licenses.


So unless this passage has changed since TeXlive2003, I don't see how
XeTeX would be forced to come under the GPL.  Either case, either the
web2c introduction should be amended to remove the wrong statement
about kpathsea, or the kpathsea introduction should be changed to
mention the alluded file.  Perhaps this has happened since then.

However, I think that whether or not distributing XeTeX would be
impacted by the GPL, the TeXlive policies would clearly disallow
including nosell software like that.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum



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