delete keychain (Was: GPL packages without a COPYING file)

[Nicholas Wourms]

Hack Kampbjørn wrote:
> Hack Kampbjørn wrote:
> 
>> Some time ago doing a review of the pwgen package 
>> (http://sources.redhat.com/ml/cygwin-apps/2002-07/msg00656.html) I 
>> observed:
>>  > This seems to be a GPL package but I cannot find a COPYING file in the
>>  > original distribution, this voids the GPL as you (or Red Hat) cannot
>>  > redistribute this package without a copy of the GPL license. You may
>>  > need to ask the upstream maintainer to add a COPYING file to the
>>  > pwgen-2.0.2 tarball.
>>
>> While updating keychain I found that it has the same problem.
>>
>>   GPL 1. You may copy and distribute [...] and give any other recipients
>>   of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
>>
>> Do you read the GPL differently than I do. Debian seems to as they 
>> have both a pwgen and a keychain package.
>>
>> Can we just add a copy of the License to a GPL package missing it?
>>
>> If we are worried about filespace consumption we could make a 
>> gpl-license package and symlink to its COPYING file as long as the 
>> files are identicals (some packages may have added conditions).
>>
>> If you do read the GPL as I do we should delete the current keychain 
>> package(s) while I contact the upstream maintainer.
>>
> 
> As nobody on this list seemed to care I tried to contact the keychain 
> author who doesn't seem to care either. And I still don't think we are 
> allowed to redistribute it, I'll for this package to be delete until 
> this question can be answered.
> 
> If you thinks it's alright to keep the current package you're welcome to 
> take over as the list obviously has no problem with it.
> 

Umm...  You'll probably want to make a post to 
bugs.gentoo.org, because they are extremely busy trying to 
get a new release ready.

As for what license it is released under, that is quite 
simple, it is GPL.  If you do not believe me, check out 
their entry in Portage:

http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/gentoo-x86/net-misc/keychain/keychain-2.0.2.ebuild?rev=1.1&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup

This entry here implies that keychain support has been 
merged in with the main script:

http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/gentoo-src/keychain/README?rev=1.12&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup

The reason it probably doesn't come with COPYING lies in how 
Gentoo is distributed.  When you bootstrap your gentoo 
system, one of the first packages to be downloaded contains 
a directory with a copy of every version of every type of 
license used by the ebuilds in the Gentoo distribution. 
Thus, keeping seperate copies is redundant.

I can't speak for Daniel, but knowing him, just adding a 
COPYING to the tarball *won't* be a problem at all.  He's 
pretty laid back and isn't going to call the GPL police on 
anyone anytime soon.

Still, if you feel obliged to contact him, the best bet is 
the bugzilla or irc.openprojects.net [#gentoo].  I'm sorry 
no one responded sooner :(.

Cheers,
Nicholas