[Buildroot] [PATCH 4/5] portaudio: add license information

Yann E. MORIN yann.morin.1998 at free.fr
Thu May 23 07:33:14 UTC 2013


Baruch, All,

On 2013-05-23 10:09 +0300, Baruch Siach spake thusly:
> On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 08:59:04AM +0200, Yann E. MORIN wrote:
[--SNIP--]
> > This is not really MIT, since there is additional text:
> > 
> >  ---8<---
> >  * The text above constitutes the entire PortAudio license; however, 
> >  * the PortAudio community also makes the following non-binding
> >  * requests:
> >  *
> >  * Any person wishing to distribute modifications to the Software is
> >  * requested to send the modifications to the original developer so that
> >  * they can be incorporated into the canonical version. It is also 
> >  * requested that these non-binding requests be included along with the 
> >  * license above.
> >  ---8<---
> > 
> > So I'd say:
> >     PORTAUDIO_LICENSE = portaudio license (MIT-like plus special clause)
> > 
> > (which by the way makes it non-free software.)
> 
> Well, the text you cite says explicitly that these are "non-binding requests".  
> Would you still consider this non-free?

Well, I poundered that, yes. But the way it is phrased is dubious.

First, it states that it is a non-binding clause. But then the clause
states "[a]ny person [doing changes] is requested to send modifications
[upstream]." The term "requested" is a bit strong for a non-binding
clause.

So, let me rephrase:
    (which by the way *may* make it non-free software.)

But the final word should come from a legal counsel, of course. :-)

Anyway, this is not "MIT" per-se.

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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