nmap: NMap possibly violates The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)

[Debian Bug Importer]

Automatically imported from Debian bug report #292419 http://bugs.debian.org/292419

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Automatically imported from Debian bug report #292419 http://bugs.debian.org/292419

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-Id: <E1CtvO8-0006NU-M0@debian>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:11:48 -0500
From: astronut <email address hidden>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <email address hidden>
Subject: nmap: NMap possibly violates The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)

Package: nmap
Version: 3.75-1
Severity: serious
Justification: Policy 2.1

The DFSG #5 states that "The license must not discriminate against any
person or group of persons."
Although nmap is liscenced under the GPL, it specifically forbids the
SCO Group from distributing nmap. I do not know if this is legally
binding, as it is in the changelog, and not the liscence file itself,
nor do I wish to keep nmap out of debian, I simply want to bring this to
people's attention.

The relevent section:
o SCO Corporation of Lindon, Utah (formerly Caldera) has lately taken
  to an extortion campaign of demanding license fees from Linux users
  for code that they themselves knowingly distributed under the terms
  of the GNU GPL. They have also refused to accept the GPL,claiming
  that some preposterous theory of theirs makes it invalid. Meanwhile
  they have distributed GPL-licensed Nmap in (at least) their
  "Supplemental Open Source CD". In response to these blatant
  violations, and in accordance with section 4 of the GPL, we hereby
  terminate SCO's rights to redistribute any versions of Nmap in any
  of their products, including (without limitation) OpenLinux,
  Skunkware, OpenServer, and UNIXWare.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.10-astro
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)

Versions of packages nmap depends on:
ii libc6 2.3.2.ds1-20 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libgcc1 1:3.4.3-7 GCC support library
ii libpcre3 4.5-1.1 Perl 5 Compatible Regular Expressi
ii libssl0.9.7 0.9.7e-3 SSL shared libraries
ii libstdc++5 1:3.3.5-6 The GNU Standard C++ Library v3

-- no debconf information

[Fyodor (fyodor)]

On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 05:11:48PM -0500, astronut wrote:
>
> The DFSG #5 states that "The license must not discriminate against any
> person or group of persons."
> Although nmap is liscenced under the GPL, it specifically forbids the
> SCO Group from distributing nmap.

That is not discrimination against any specific person or group-- the
GPL states (section 4 and 5) that companies must accept the GPL in
order to redistribute GPL'd software such as Nmap. Since SCO refuses
to accept the GPL terms, they have no right to redistribute Nmap.
This clarification in the changelog is not meant to modify the Nmap
license, but only to provide a concrete example of how we interpret
the GPL. SCO has no right to redistribute Nmap unless they accept its
license terms. Accordingly, I believe that they have ceased
distribution of Nmap. This exact issue has been hashed over by legal
minds much better than me in the Slashdot and Groklaw articles on the
topic.

Cheers,
Fyodor

[Benjamin Seidenberg (astronut)]

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:55:26 -0800, Fyodor <email address hidden> wrote:
> <snip>
> That is not discrimination against any specific person or group-- the
> GPL states (section 4 and 5) that companies must accept the GPL in
> order to redistribute GPL'd software such as Nmap. Since SCO refuses
> to accept the GPL terms, they have no right to redistribute Nmap.
> This clarification in the changelog is not meant to modify the Nmap
> license, but only to provide a concrete example of how we interpret
> the GPL. SCO has no right to redistribute Nmap unless they accept its
> license terms. Accordingly, I believe that they have ceased
> distribution of Nmap. This exact issue has been hashed over by legal
> minds much better than me in the Slashdot and Groklaw articles on the
> topic.
>
> Cheers,
> Fyodor
>

Wow...a response from Fyodor himself. Let me first thank you for all
your hard work on nmap, and your contributions to the security world.
I had brought this issue up in the #debian IRC channel, and discussion
had somewhat died so I submitted the report. Later, the discussion was
renewed, and that point was clarified. I'd withdraw the bug, but I
believe the package maintainer has to do that.

Anyway, thanks for your timely response, and thanks again for all the
work you do.
-astronut

[LaMont Jones (lamont)]

On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 02:55:26PM -0800, Fyodor wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 05:11:48PM -0500, astronut wrote:
> That is not discrimination against any specific person or group-- the
> GPL states (section 4 and 5) that companies must accept the GPL in
> order to redistribute GPL'd software such as Nmap.

therefore closing the bug.

lamont

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:55:26 -0800
From: Fyodor <email address hidden>
To: astronut <email address hidden>, <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Bug#292419: nmap: NMap possibly violates The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)

On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 05:11:48PM -0500, astronut wrote:
>
> The DFSG #5 states that "The license must not discriminate against any
> person or group of persons."
> Although nmap is liscenced under the GPL, it specifically forbids the
> SCO Group from distributing nmap.

That is not discrimination against any specific person or group-- the
GPL states (section 4 and 5) that companies must accept the GPL in
order to redistribute GPL'd software such as Nmap. Since SCO refuses
to accept the GPL terms, they have no right to redistribute Nmap.
This clarification in the changelog is not meant to modify the Nmap
license, but only to provide a concrete example of how we interpret
the GPL. SCO has no right to redistribute Nmap unless they accept its
license terms. Accordingly, I believe that they have ceased
distribution of Nmap. This exact issue has been hashed over by legal
minds much better than me in the Slashdot and Groklaw articles on the
topic.

Cheers,
Fyodor

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 18:04:08 -0500
From: astronut <email address hidden>
To: Fyodor <email address hidden>, <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Bug#292419: nmap: NMap possibly violates The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:55:26 -0800, Fyodor <email address hidden> wrote:
> <snip>
> That is not discrimination against any specific person or group-- the
> GPL states (section 4 and 5) that companies must accept the GPL in
> order to redistribute GPL'd software such as Nmap. Since SCO refuses
> to accept the GPL terms, they have no right to redistribute Nmap.
> This clarification in the changelog is not meant to modify the Nmap
> license, but only to provide a concrete example of how we interpret
> the GPL. SCO has no right to redistribute Nmap unless they accept its
> license terms. Accordingly, I believe that they have ceased
> distribution of Nmap. This exact issue has been hashed over by legal
> minds much better than me in the Slashdot and Groklaw articles on the
> topic.
>
> Cheers,
> Fyodor
>

Wow...a response from Fyodor himself. Let me first thank you for all
your hard work on nmap, and your contributions to the security world.
I had brought this issue up in the #debian IRC channel, and discussion
had somewhat died so I submitted the report. Later, the discussion was
renewed, and that point was clarified. I'd withdraw the bug, but I
believe the package maintainer has to do that.

Anyway, thanks for your timely response, and thanks again for all the
work you do.
-astronut

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 16:16:24 -0700
From: LaMont Jones <email address hidden>
To: Fyodor <email address hidden>, <email address hidden>
Cc: astronut <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Bug#292419: nmap: NMap possibly violates The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)

On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 02:55:26PM -0800, Fyodor wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 05:11:48PM -0500, astronut wrote:
> That is not discrimination against any specific person or group-- the
> GPL states (section 4 and 5) that companies must accept the GPL in
> order to redistribute GPL'd software such as Nmap.

therefore closing the bug.

lamont

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Invalid, withdrawn by submitter.