> there is a (broken) debian folder to build a deb in the source code download from the japanese epson site.
If there is a problem with the included debian folder, report a bug[1], preferably with a clean patch. That Ubuntu's build farm does not know anything about an 'unstable' distribution is Ubuntu's problem as far as I'm concerned.
> all I want is the scanner support, so I can use flegita or xsane. is this now GPL?
I don't know about flegita or xsane, but iscan is not GPL.
As a whole, iscan is GPL with exceptions and includes (and depends on) a decidedly non-free library. The 'epkowa' backend does not depend on any non-free components but it does include run-time support for their use.
> there is a (broken) debian folder to build a deb in the source code download from the japanese epson site.
If there is a problem with the included debian folder, report a bug[1], preferably with a clean patch. That Ubuntu's build farm does not know anything about an 'unstable' distribution is Ubuntu's problem as far as I'm concerned.
[1] https:/ /www.avasys. jp/secure/ english/ linux_e/ support_ form.html
> all I want is the scanner support, so I can use flegita or xsane. is this now GPL?
I don't know about flegita or xsane, but iscan is not GPL.
As a whole, iscan is GPL with exceptions and includes (and depends on) a decidedly non-free library. The 'epkowa' backend does not depend on any non-free components but it does include run-time support for their use.