MPL and Source Code

[Craig Southeren]

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:13:24 -0400
Anthony DeRobertis <anthony at derobert.net> wrote:

> Craig Southeren wrote:
> > I'm not sure what an NMU is, but why are these not put into the SVN
> > archive?
> >   
> A NMU (non-maintainer upload) is an upload by a person who is not the 
> maintainer of the package. Reasons for this happening are numerous; 
> trivial example is an urgent fix when the maintainer is on vacation, is 
> missing, is too busy, etc. An NMU would often not be put in the revision 
> control archive because the person doing the NMU does not have commit 
> access to said repository.

Does the NMU end up in the repository eventually? If so, then I don't
see this as a problem.

> > Because if it is Debian policy to distribute binaries where the source
> > code is not guaranteed to be publically available, then yes, I think
> > that could be a problem regardless of whether the license is MPL or GPL.
> >   
> The source code is guaranteed to be publicly available for as long as 
> the binary is, but no longer.

This is in violation of most Open Source licenses. 

For example, the GPL requires source to be available on demand for up to
three years after distribution of the binary by electronic means.

   Craig

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