[sane-devel] Is click-through license needed for xsane?

[Oliver Rauch]

Jason McCarty wrote:

> > 3)
> > The reason why I enforce the accept license dialog after each update or new installation
> > of xsane is not the license itself, it is the part:
> >
> >       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
> > ==>   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
> >       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
> 
> So it is clauses 11 and 12 that you wish the user to agree to rather
> than the entire GPL. Could you simply include _only_ those clauses in
> your click-through (I'll call it a EULA from now on), if you feel you
> must have it? I believe that it's important that people know that it
> isn't necessary to agree to the GPL to use a piece of software. I
> consider that to be one of its strong points.

I think that is what I will do:

the "accept dialog" will care about the no warranty part, the GPL
is not displayed completly.

The user still will be able to display the complete license in the help menu.


> This brings up a point which may be important to Debian: Does having a
> click-through license cause the software to be non-DFSG-free? According
> to Debian Free Software Guideline 7, "The rights attached to the program
> must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need
> for execution of an additional license by those parties." Is requiring
> the user to accept the GPL an "execution of an additional license"?

I hope it is ok if the user does not need to accept the complete GPL,
only the "no warranty" part. If not then Debian should think about itīs
Guideline.

Bye
Oliver

-- 
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