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[Savannah-cvs] [PhpIssues] sum up PHPL<->GPL compatibility issue
From: |
Beuc |
Subject: |
[Savannah-cvs] [PhpIssues] sum up PHPL<->GPL compatibility issue |
Date: |
Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:44:02 +0000 |
The PHP License has a couple clauses that are incompatible with the GNU GPL
(versions 2 and 3) because they restrict usage of the name "PHP". Usually a
name is protected using a trademark. When it is done in the license however,
this introduces new requirements, and those requirements are not in the GNU
GPL. So, despite the fact the PHP _License_ is a free software license, and a
permissive one, it is not compatible with the GNU GPL.
This is not a problem for the PHP language itself, because the GNU GPL makes an
exception for a project's underlying programming language (this exception
allows you to distribute GPL'd applications that works for MS Windows, for
example).
The real issue is when the PHP License, which is meant for the PHP programming
language only, is used for other works. A notable amont of such works come from
the PEAR libraries (http://pear.php.net/).
In short: don't use PEAR packages under the PHP License with your GPL'd
applications, or urge their maintainer to switch the modified BSD license,
which is very similar except for the "trademark" clauses. mBSD is also
compatible with the PHP License, so such code may be included in the PHP
distribution if need be. It is worth noting that trying to preserve the PHP
name in a separate software package has no effect, so those clauses are pretty
useless in the context of PEAR.
-----
More details:
Here are the relevant clauses
(http://www.php.net/license/3_01.txt)::
3. The name "PHP" must not be used to endorse or promote products
derived from this software without prior written permission. For
written permission, please contact address@hidden
4. Products derived from this software may not be called "PHP", nor
may "PHP" appear in their name, without prior written permission
from address@hidden You may indicate that your software works in
conjunction with PHP by saying "Foo for PHP" instead of calling
it "PHP Foo" or "phpfoo"
I approached the PEAR developers to raise awareness of this issue
(independently of Savannah):
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.php.pear.devel/40682/focus=40682
This had some good results, with some packages relicensing:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.php.pear.devel/40682/focus=40682
However not everybody understood the point. Among them one of the PHP
maintainers, who confused "derived work" and "aggregation". His answer was also
quoted in the FAQ (without a link to the rest of the discussion). This is
unfortunate for the PHP maintainer, because it was a pretty inaccurate
statement:
http://pear.php.net/manual/en/faq.devs.php
Attemping to reason the FAQ maintainer failed:
http://pear.php.net/bugs/bug.php?id=9630
Not all packages can be relicensed anyway, because there is no formal copyright
assignment, so each and every author would have to be contacted - which is the
main difficulty of the process.
An interesting question at the time was to know whether the GNU GPL v3 would be
compatible, or not. After some talk with address@hidden, it appears that the
latest draft isn't compatible with the PHP License, and is not moving in that
direction. (<<not that Section 7(e) is meant to be read *very* literally --
i.e., compatible clauses should say something like "This license does not grant
you permission to use our trademarks." Anything that goes beyond that is almost
certainly not acceptable because it won't account for things like fair use of
the trademark, etc.>> --brett).
There was another confusion because the FSF pages mentioned version 3.00 of the
PHPL, but there was a new 3.01 which fixed other distribution issues pointed
out by Debian. The FSF pages are now updated to mention 3.01 - and the changes
have no effect on the compatibility issue
(http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/savannah-hackers-public/2006-12/msg00023.html).
So, the PHPL and the GNU GPL are not compatible and aren't going to be.
We encourage PEAR developers to switch to the modified BSD and fix the PEAR FAQ.
--
forwarded from
https://savannah.gnu.org/maintenance/address@hidden://savannah.gnu.org/maintenance
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