Re: [Savannah-help-public] Fwd: question on GPL

[Sylvain Beucler]

Hi,

We do not, at Savannah, know if a package should be GNU or not.

When a packages wants to be GNU, we first review it for non-GNU
hosting, then we point the user to
http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html .

Then the GNU Evaluation team, and eventually RMS, decide if and how
the package can be GNU.


As far as I'm concerned, I am the maintainer of a GNU package which is
based on non-GNU software from various sources, so I guess it's ok to
include p2c in the Modula-2 package.

Gaius, you need to ask confirmation to the GNU Eval team anyway, and
talk with them in order to get your Modula-2 frontend reviewed for GNU
approval. I add them in Cc :)

-- 
Sylvain


On Tue, Dec 27, 2005 at 07:43:42PM -0500, Brett Smith wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> We recently received the mail below at <address@hidden>.  It more
> concerns GNU policy than actual license questions, though, so I
> thought it would be best to pass it on to you.
> 
> Do you think you might be able to provide a reply?  If not, let me
> know, and I'll see who else I should try to ask.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> ==============================================================================
> Subject: question on GPL
> Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 18:33:58 +0000
> To: address@hidden
> From: Gaius Mulley <address@hidden>
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm trying to get the project I'm lead developer for accepted into
> Savannah as an official GNU project. I'm working on GNU Modula-2 - a
> front end for GCC.
> 
> GNU Modula-2 is written in Modula-2 and C. Currently within GNU
> Modula-2 I'm using a modified copy of `p2c' which performs the
> bootstrapping of the Modula-2 sources into C.
> 
> Now p2c is GPL'd but the p2c project is a not official GNU project as
> defined by Savannah (but it is held on Savannah as an unofficial piece
> of GNU software, GPL v2). So my question is how should I proceed in
> order to get GNU Modula-2 an official GNU Project?
> 
> (i) create diffs from the modifications I've made to p2c
> and have some script recreate the p2c sources currently present in
> GNU Modula-2 by downloading a p2c-1.20 tar ball and applying
> the set of diffs. Or..
> 
> (ii) am I allowed to include the p2c sources as part of GNU
> Modula-2 and still obtain official GNU software status?
> Or would the fact that p2c is not official GNU software
> `taint' GNU Modula-2? Basically I not quite sure how the GPL
> relates to official and non official GNU software. Ie because
> p2c is GPL'd can I #include it into GNU Modula-2..
> 
> Maybe I've missed a FAQ on this somewhere,