Re: [GNU-linux-libre] Status of google chrome and chromium

[Karl Goetz]

On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:30:36 +0100
Sam Geeraerts <address@hidden> wrote:

> A.J. Venter schreef:
> >> * The Google Chrome EULA makes reference to various features that
> >> would be odious to free software users: the browser automatically
> >> updates itself without warning the user or allowing them to
> >> intervene.  It also automatically downloads a blacklist of
> >> extensions from Google; if the user has installed extensions on
> >> that blacklist, they will automatically be uninstalled.  I'm
> >> guessing these features aren't in Google Chromium -- again, either
> >> by being absent from the source code or not included in a default
> >> build.

> > The EULA is utterly non-free. The google-code for chromium is BSD
> > licensed and fully free as far as I can ascertain - as are all the
> > third-party components that are actually used, however it also has
> 
> Omar said that the EULA doesn't apply to Chromium, so no problem
> there. I'm not sure that all third party software licenses are free,
> though. The list of software [1] says that bsdiff and bspatch fall
> under the "BSD Protection License" [2]. Clause 3c says:
> 
> "The license under which the derivative work is distributed must 
> expressly prohibit the distribution of further derivative works."
> 
> So if I understand correctly this means that any derivatives would
> have to fall under a non-free license. I would have thought that this
> is also not DFSG-compliant, but package python-bsdiff is available in
> main [3] (and in Ubuntu universe). I'm not sure where bspatch comes
> from.

http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/b/bsdiff/current/copyright
Lists the licence as 'bsd'. This may need a bug report.

> [1] http://code.google.com/intl/en/chromium/terms.html
> [2] http://python.net/crew/atuining/cx_bsdiff/LICENSE.txt
> [3] http://packages.debian.org/lenny/python-bsdiff



-- 
Karl Goetz, (Kamping_Kaiser / VK5FOSS)
Debian contributor / gNewSense Maintainer
http://www.kgoetz.id.au
No, I won't join your social networking group

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