Mailing List Archive: Qmail: users

licensing questions

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mw at moni

Feb 26, 1997, 7:15 AM

Post #1 of 3 (220 views)
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licensing questions

I really wonder what

If you want to distribute modified versions of qmail (e.g.,
different packaging formats, porting changes, precompiled
binaries) you'll have to get my approval. Note that this means
approval of the version, not approval of your distribution
method.

means? Does this answer the following questions clearly

1) If a Math department has 37 Unix machines, does the system
administrator have to compile qmail on each separately (implying that
each machine has to have a compiler even if the owner will never use
anything else except E-mail and TeX).

Or can she compile it on one Linux/gnu, one sparc, one iris, and then
install from these machines to the rest ? Is this considered a
distribution of the binaries? How about sending the binaries to other
departments on campus? How about doing the same with a home made
src.rpm/deb?

2) How long does it take to get an approval? How does Dan check a
binary package? Does one actually send the binaries to him, or just
the description of how they was compiled? Who is going to read and
understand all these descriptions, patches?

Does he have the capabilities to learn and check every
conceivable packaging system? Does one have to send a current version
of the packaging system as well? Is he willing to bother with the
compilation of these packaging systems, or one should send a binary
version?

3) Does the license apply to 1.00 only, or to all previous versions as
well? In particular, do we have to remove the .96.rpm from our
university's ftp site?

Why did the license appear only now?

4) What if a bright grad student at Berkeley decides to write the
perfect MTA, and she wants to incorporate ideas from qmail; how much
freedom does she have to experiment?

Mate
Mate Wierdl
mw [at] moni
University of Memphis

yaroslav at scam

Feb 26, 1997, 9:53 AM

Post #2 of 3 (206 views)
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Re: licensing questions [In reply to]

> 4) What if a bright grad student at Berkeley decides to write the
> perfect MTA, and she wants to incorporate ideas from qmail; how much
> freedom does she have to experiment?

[There are bright undergrads at Berkeley, too ;) ]

Receiving the source distribution allows one to experiment
(read/modify source/compile/test/repeat) as much as he/she wants to.
(or until he/she finds all 4 of the comments in the source and
realizes that Dan followed the Berkeley way of writing code -
if the code was difficult to write, it should be difficult to read).

Also, just so that people here know: When i asked Richard Stallman
what kind of MTA he'd like to include in the GNU distribution, he
said "exim. it's got great queue management." Scary. Realizing
that qmail will never be distributed under a GNU-style license,
i'm taking the hint from the last line of the TODO file in the
qmail distribution.

ghudson at mit

Feb 26, 1997, 11:04 AM

Post #3 of 3 (205 views)
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Re: licensing questions [In reply to]

Some of your questions can be answered through interpretation of
copyright law, although some of them will require an answer from Dan.
I am not a lawyer, so you shouldn't take any of this as gospel, but I
know a little bit about copyright law.

A little background: Copyright protections include reproduction
(copying) as restricted by fair use, distribution to the public (not
to the math department) as restricted by the first sale doctrine, and
creation of derivative works (which is restricted in the case of
software). There are two other protections (public performance and
public display) which don't apply here.

> 1) If a Math department has 37 Unix machines, does the system
> administrator have to compile qmail on each separately (implying
> that each machine has to have a compiler even if the owner will
> never use anything else except E-mail and TeX).

I doubt Dan intends to restrict copying of binaries within a private
group, and even if he did, it would probably be considered fair use
(since it's not a profit-making activity and has no effect on qmail's
market value).

> 4) What if a bright grad student at Berkeley decides to write the
> perfect MTA, and she wants to incorporate ideas from qmail; how much
> freedom does she have to experiment?

Infinite. Copyright does not apply to ideas and concepts. As long as
the MTA is not a derivative work of the qmail code (or anything else
presented by qmail which might be considered copyrightable), said grad
student is safe.

(There are certainly source license agreements for software which
restrict the use of concepts learned from reading the source, but you
sign no such license when you ftp the qmail sources.)

</begin speculation about Dan's motives>

> 3) Does the license apply to 1.00 only, or to all previous versions
> as well? In particular, do we have to remove the .96.rpm from our
> university's ftp site?

> Why did the license appear only now?

I believe he didn't want people redistributing qmail until 1.00 was
released.

</end speculation about Dan's motives>

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