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AlisterH / gwc

Gtk (formerly Gnome) Wave Cleaner
http://gwc.sourceforge.net/
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24 stars 7 forks source link

Unclear GPL version #12

Open fwolfst opened 4 years ago

fwolfst commented 4 years ago

It is unclear to me which GPL version is actually in use.

Thanks for this project. For a specific audio file the noise reduction seems to work better (less artifacts) than the audacity one.

AlisterH commented 4 years ago

Hi. Well, the version in the COPYING file for a start...

I did notice this myself - it looks like GPL2, and when GWC was first released I'm pretty sure that is the only version that was really in use.

But I guess you are really asking about the other vague wording that it is under "the GPL". I think I compared COPYING against the official text of GPL2, but I didn't change this wording, because it isn't clear enough for me to know what it should say! i.e. can we consider it to mean "the version in COPYING or any later version"? Maybe a lawyer can answer, or we might be able to get Jeff to tell us what his preference is, so we can change the wording.

But the other big question is whether all the code is actually GPL compatible, and we are abiding by any other license requirements.

I'm not sure if there are any other issues, but we probably need to add some "last modified" statements to properly comply with the meschach license, and IIRC at one point the Debian people weren't actually happy with gwc, because it included meschach, or something like that. (It would be nice if we could use a system meschach, but most distros don't provide one, and there isn't really a proper upstream...)

fwolfst commented 4 years ago

Sorry to bring this up, I didnt want to make it "big".

I did notice this myself - it looks like GPL2, and when GWC was first released I'm pretty sure that is the only version that was really in use.

I just did a quick comparison when I filed the issue and the LICENSE-Text does not match the GPLv2 or v1 (at least not the text-variants, with the paragraph numbers etc). But since you are the only contributor, you can just choose any at any time and (re-)release as such.

But I guess you are really asking about the other vague wording that it is under "the GPL". I think I compared COPYING against the official text of GPL2, but I didn't change this wording, because it isn't clear enough for me to know what it should say! i.e. can we consider it to mean "the version in COPYING or any later version"? Maybe a lawyer can answer, or we might be able to get Jeff to tell us what his preference is, so we can change the wording.

I always do "This code is licensed under the LICENSE+LINK_TO_FILE or any later version and copyright (YEAR) ME". The "any later version" has so far only be relevant in GPL as far as I know.

And no, you should never change the wording in the LICENSE file.

But the other big question is whether all the code is actually GPL compatible, and we are abiding by any other license requirements.

I'm not sure if there are any other issues, but we probably need to add some "last modified" statements to properly comply with the meschach license, and IIRC at one point the Debian people weren't actually happy with gwc, because it included meschach, or something like that.

I did not expect this and do not rally have the time to look into. Just a quick glance: I believe the question is whether gwc is a derived work, then you cannot charge for it and this is against the GPL (https://github.com/AlisterH/gwc/blob/441d67f3dfabf3a739656ff1b9fb4b546817fbb3/meschach/copyright#L19). I'd probably agree with the Debian view that a bundled executable is too hot.

Anyway, sorry for opening that box. The safest thing would be to contact the two meschach authors and ask them if its thinkable for them to transfer copyright to you or if they can relicense. The requirement to record and deliver modifications should be relatively easy to implement (git diff ... > modifications.path)

Btw to get things cleared out, you might use FSFEs reuse.software tool. GPLing single source files shouldnt be a problem.

(It would be nice if we could use a system meschach, but most distros don't provide one, and there isn't really a proper upstream...)

Looks like Debian/Ubuntu does, but sure enough its easier if you include it and have it under control.

fwolfst commented 4 years ago

two meschach authors and ask them if its thinkable for them to transfer copyright to you or if they can relicense

looking at this, its rather unlikely that his would happen, but asking doesnt cost anything.

fwolfst commented 4 years ago

Also, you should mention the situation in the README (that meschach and sox are copyright somebody else). On top od that you could use the fsfe reuse thing and add the appropriate headers, or rather let the tool add the headers.

AlisterH commented 4 years ago

since you are the only contributor, you can just choose any at any time and (re-)release as such.

Ah, no. I am not the original author of GWC; all I've done on it is port it from gnome 2 to plain gtk2, and other relatively minor changes, mostly gui or build related fixes. Jeff Welty, the original author, said he doesn't have time to maintain it anymore, and as you can see from the sporadic commits I only occasionally have any time for it myself. Help with anything is welcome...

fwolfst commented 4 years ago

Okay. Would be good to have a public statement from Jeff, e.g. here in the issue that he is fine with "proposed changes" (that might mean: declaring GPLv2/3+, and mentioning you guys as copyright holders for the relevant files). Just to see the spirit and the intent.

On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 1:50 PM AlisterH notifications@github.com wrote:

since you are the only contributor, you can just choose any at any time and (re-)release as such.

Ah, no. I am not the original author of GWC; all I've done on it is port it from gnome 2 to plain gtk2, and other relatively minor changes, mostly gui or build related fixes. Jeff Welty, the original author, said he doesn't have time to maintain it anymore, and as you can see from the sporadic commits I only occasionally have any time for it myself. Help with anything is welcome...

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/AlisterH/gwc/issues/12#issuecomment-617729396, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABVR3PM4XGVZPKPUBYN3I3RN3KYDANCNFSM4MNE7O4A .