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Re: Did nmap just become non-free?
From: |
Andreas Enge |
Subject: |
Re: Did nmap just become non-free? |
Date: |
Thu, 15 Oct 2020 10:51:29 +0200 |
Hello,
On Thu, Oct 15, 2020 at 12:12:45AM +0200, Marius Bakke wrote:
> Proprietary software companies wishing to use or incorporate Covered
> Software within their programs must contact Licensor to purchase a
> separate license. Open source developers who wish to incorporate parts
> of Covered Software into free software with conflicting licenses may
> write Licensor to request a waiver of terms.
>
> From <https://svn.nmap.org/nmap/LICENSE>.
>
> So a "proprietary software company" cannot use or incorporate nmap
> within a program, even if that program is free (as in software)?
the formulation is weird, but I am reading this more as "you cannot
incorporate this software into a proprietary one", which more or less
summarises the difference between the GPL and the LGPL.
In guix/licenses.scm, the previous entry for nmap (dating from 2016),
instead of providing a link to https://www.gnu.org/licenses/ , gave one
to https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/Nmap , which classifies the
license as free, but incompatible with the GPL.
It would be nice to get feedback from the FSF on the question, indeed;
but I am less pessimistic than you!
Andreas