[Bug nis/6953] New: Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[Bug nis/6953] New: Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[ben+gnu at benfinney dot id dot au]

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GNU libc currently contains an implementation of RPC (in the ‘sunrpc/’ 
directory) under the following copyright and license:

    Copyright (C) 1984, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

    Sun RPC is a product of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and is provided for
    unrestricted use provided that this legend is included on all tape media
    and as a part of the software program in whole or part.  Users may copy
    or modify Sun RPC without charge, but are not authorized to license or
    distribute it to anyone else except as part of a product or program
    developed by the user.

    SUN RPC IS PROVIDED AS IS WITH NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING THE
    WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
    PURPOSE, OR ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING, USAGE OR TRADE PRACTICE.

    Sun RPC is provided with no support and without any obligation on the
    part of Sun Microsystems, Inc. to assist in its use, correction,
    modification or enhancement.

    SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE
    INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHTS, TRADE SECRETS OR ANY PATENTS BY SUN RPC
    OR ANY PART THEREOF.

    In no event will Sun Microsystems, Inc. be liable for any lost revenue
    or profits or other special, indirect and consequential damages, even if
    Sun has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

The clause granting redistribution,

    Users may copy or modify Sun RPC without charge, but are not
    authorized to license or distribute it to anyone else except as
    part of a product or program developed by the user.

does not seem to meet the Free Software Definition. It forbids 
redistribution except “as part of a product or program developed by 
the user”. So recipients who have not developed the “program or 
product” may not redistribute the work under this license.

Perhaps the simplest resolution for this would be for the GNU libc 
maintainers to receive a different, free license for this code from 
Sun, like the GNU GPLv2 or GPLv3.

-- 
           Summary: Sun RPC implementation license non-free
           Product: glibc
           Version: unspecified
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: nis
        AssignedTo: kukuk at suse dot de
        ReportedBy: ben+gnu at benfinney dot id dot au
                CC: glibc-bugs at sources dot redhat dot com


http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

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[Bug nis/6953] Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[ben+gnu at benfinney dot id dot au]

------- Additional Comments From ben+gnu at benfinney dot id dot au  2008-10-09 03:03 -------
> receive a different, free license for this code from Sun, like the GNU GPLv2
or GPLv3

The above licenses may be incompatible with releasing the glibc work as a whole
under the LGPL.

Receiving the RPC code from Sun under a compatible license (ideally, the same
license terms as the bulk of glibc itself) would be best.


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http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

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[Bug nis/6953] Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[drepper at redhat dot com]

------- Additional Comments From drepper at redhat dot com  2008-10-31 15:30 -------
Suspended until some legal people picks this up.

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           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |SUSPENDED


http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

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[Bug nis/6953] Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[aurelien at aurel32 dot net]

------- Additional Comments From aurelien at aurel32 dot net  2009-05-21 14:55 -------
This has been fixed in the git tree. Marking the bug as fixed.

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           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|SUSPENDED                   |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |FIXED


http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

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[Bug nis/6953] Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[ben+gnu at benfinney dot id.au]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

--- Comment #6 from Ben Finney <ben+gnu at benfinney dot id.au> ---
(In reply to Allan McRae from comment #5)
> This looks like git commit 9bbd0ddc:
> https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=commit;h=9bbd0ddc

Great. So the license terms for Sun RPC are now a BSD-style 3-clause
(attribution, no-endorsement) license, which meets the free software
definition.

Thank you to everyone involved in getting this software under free-software
terms!

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[Bug nis/6953] Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[allan at archlinux dot org]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

Allan McRae <allan at archlinux dot org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |allan at archlinux dot org

--- Comment #5 from Allan McRae <allan at archlinux dot org> ---
This looks like git commit 9bbd0ddc:
https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=commit;h=9bbd0ddc

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[Bug nis/6953] Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[ben+gnu at benfinney dot id.au]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

--- Comment #4 from Ben Finney <ben+gnu at benfinney dot id.au> ---
> This has been fixed in the git tree.

I'm glad to know that. Can you please put a link to the specific change in the
tree which fixes this bug?

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[Bug nis/6953] Sun RPC implementation license non-free

[fweimer at redhat dot com]

https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=6953

Florian Weimer <fweimer at redhat dot com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Flags|                            |security-

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