Re: GNU sharutils generated archive license

[Bob Proulx]

Hello Daniel,

Daniel Pope wrote:
> A query has arisen in our organisation as to whether the archives created by
> the GPLv3-licensed 'shar' command must also fall under the GPLv3.
> 
> I assumed there is no intention for this to be the case.

I don't think there in any intention for this either.  I am not the
maintainer of sharutils but not seeing a response from anyone else I
am jumping in.  I think this mail may have slipped by the maintainer
during this busy time of year.  I have added a direct CC on this message.

> However, looking at the GPL FAQ[1],
> 
> > [Output is copyrightable only] if substantial parts of the output are copied
> > (more or less) from text in your program.  For instance, part of the output
> > of Bison (see above) would be covered by the GNU GPL, if we had not made an
> > exception in this specific case.
> 
> Due to the nature of shar, I believe it does copy parts of its program text
> into the archives - in particular the shell code that "extracts" the archive.
> 
> I can find no mention of a Bison-like disclaimer in the sharutils license. Is
> this an oversight?

I am thinking this may be the first time this issue has been raised
with regards to shar before.  I think it is a valid concern.  At the
moment I will simply make some additional noise here about it and see
if that gets noticed.  :-)

Bob

Daniel Pope wrote:
> A query has arisen in our organisation as to whether the archives created by
> the GPLv3-licensed 'shar' command must also fall under the GPLv3.
> 
> I assumed there is no intention for this to be the case.
>
> However, looking at the GPL FAQ[1],
> 
> > [Output is copyrightable only] if substantial parts of the output are copied
> > (more or less) from text in your program.  For instance, part of the output
> > of Bison (see above) would be covered by the GNU GPL, if we had not made an
> > exception in this specific case.
> 
> Due to the nature of shar, I believe it does copy parts of its program text
> into the archives - in particular the shell code that "extracts" the archive.
> 
> I can find no mention of a Bison-like disclaimer in the sharutils license. Is
> this an oversight?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Daniel
> 
> [1] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLOutput