[tex-live] TeX Live 2011 License Audit - Non Free Items [01/02]

[Karl Berry]

Hi Tom,

    * ec
    Reason: Red Hat Legal says the license is non-free, primarily because of
    the requirement that modifications must always be accompanied by
    unmodified originals.

I've been talking to rms/brett/bkuhn about this.  I know this
second-hand email can't be considered authoritative, but here's the
outcome I'm acting on:

1. That requirement does not in itself make a license nonfree, according
to them.  The QPL had a similar requirement and was consdiered free.

2. The EC license as it stood was considered free by them, although
certainly "just on the borderline".

3. However, the EC authors quickly agreed to remove one of the
troublesome clauses, namely:
* You also distribute the unmodified version of the fonts.
This new license is now on CTAN and will be in tonight's TL build.
(Thanks, Joerg K and Norbert S!)


Based on this discussion, it seems to me that

    * midnight
    It is non-free, because it forces you to distribute only with the
    accompanying documentation.

is also ok.  (If it's ok to be forced to redistribute the whole package,
surely it is ok to be forced to redistribute only part of it.)

If you want to pursue it further, probably best to ask Brett to get
something authoritative.

Thanks,
Karl