[Savannah-hackers-public] Re: [gnu.org #323176] [Savannah] PEAR's QuickForm and the PHP license

[Sylvain Beucler]

Hello licensing team,

Do you have some backlog on your side at the moment?

The discussion is apparently coming to a close, your point on the
matter would be appreciated. Justin Patrin also sent you mail on this
subject.

Thanks,

-- 
Sylvain

On Thu, Dec 14, 2006 at 10:56:26AM +0100, Sylvain Beucler wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I initiated a discussion with the PHP and PEAR group:
> http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.php.pear.devel/40682/focus=40682
> 
> Nobody is sure about whether the latest PHP license is compatible with
> the GNU GPL, in fact.
> 
> 
> - Could you precise whether the PHP license v3.0_1_ is compatible with
>   GPLv2? There's only comments about compatibility with v3.0 (not
>   3.01). I attach a diff. I think those changes were made to make the
>   license applicable to works that are not PHP itself but also
>   released by the PHP Group, following a request by the Debian-legal
>   people.
> 
> 
> - More importantly, is the PHP license v3.01 compatible with
>   GPLv3draft2?
> 
>   The comment at the end of
>   http://gplv3.fsf.org/wiki/index.php/PHP_license%2C_version_3.01 makes
>   me thing there's no compatibility:
> 
> "However, the second draft of the GPLv3 prohibits the following additional 
> terms:
>     requirements regarding changes to the name of the work 
> which conflicts with the PHP license's prohibition on using "PHP" as a name 
> for the work."
> 
> 
> This affects the way we approve GNU GPL'd project using PEAR packages
> at Savannah, so I'd like to be sure about it. Can you check?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -- 
> Sylvain
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 08, 2006 at 09:27:04PM +0100, Sylvain Beucler wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I'd like to include the QuickForm package/library [1] in my GPL'd
> > application. It is licensed under the PHP license and is Copyright (c)
> > 1997-2003 The PHP Group.
> > 
> > As the license is not compatible with GNU GPLv2, I'd like to make the
> > QuickForm people switch their license. I already contacted them but
> > they do not seem much informed about the situation. I know I could
> > wait for GPLv3 but I need this library for a developpement right now -
> > so I'm willing to spent a little time on a license change :)
> > 
> > Maybe I could add a GPL exception to my program in order to legally
> > use it, but I also use other GPL'd pieces of code that I don't own, so
> > this is probably not an option.
> > 
> > 
> > I have 2 questions:
> > 
> > - Did you already have to deal with the PHP license and PEAR packages?
> >   Do you have any advice/experience about this? This issue is not new.
> > 
> > - Do you know whether the 'PHP Group' is a legal entity? I asked the
> >   QuickForm authors whether they signed a copyright paper - they
> >   didn't reply yet. I could not find a way to contact this 'PHP Group'
> >   either. I wonder whether the 'PHP Group' is really the copyright
> >   holder of QuickForm, or if the copyright notice is just part of a
> >   PEAR policy, without legal basis - in which case each contributor
> >   would be a co-owner, and a license change would be quite difficult,
> > 
> > Thanks in advance,
> > 
> > [1] http://pear.php.net/package/HTML_QuickForm
> > [2] http://www.php.net/license/2_02.txt
> > [3] 
> > http://cvs.php.net/viewvc.cgi/pear/HTML_QuickForm/QuickForm.php?revision=1.162&view=markup
> > 
> > -- 
> > Sylvain

> --- 3_0.txt   2006-12-14 09:40:41.000000000 +0100
> +++ 3_01.txt  2006-12-14 09:40:49.000000000 +0100
> @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> -                  The PHP License, version 3.0
> +                  The PHP License, version 3.01
>  Copyright (c) 1999 - 2006 The PHP Group. All rights reserved.
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>  
> @@ -38,8 +38,8 @@
>  
>    6. Redistributions of any form whatsoever must retain the following
>       acknowledgment:
> -     "This product includes PHP, freely available from
> -     <http://www.php.net/>".
> +     "This product includes PHP software, freely available from
> +     <http://www.php.net/software/>".
>  
>  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE PHP DEVELOPMENT TEAM ``AS IS'' AND 
>  ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
> @@ -64,5 +64,5 @@
>  For more information on the PHP Group and the PHP project, 
>  please see <http://www.php.net>.
>  
> -This product includes the Zend Engine, freely available at
> +PHP includes the Zend Engine, freely available at
>  <http://www.zend.com>.