[Savannah-hackers-public] Third party libraries included in project submission

[Felipe Lopez]

Hi,

I'm currently evaluating project https://savannah.gnu.org/task/?12519.
The project includes files for building it in GNU/Linux and Windows.
The tarball includes several external libraries (in binary and source code
form). The directory is in "packaging/windows/cross-compilation" and looks like
this:

external_libraries
├── freetype-2.3.9.tar.gz
├── jpegsrc.v8d.tar.gz
├── libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll
├── libpng-1.4.1.tar.gz
├── libSDL_mixer.la
├── libSDL_mixer.la.in
├── libstdc++-6.dll
├── libxml2-git-snapshot.tar.gz
├── libz.la.in
├── mingw32-gettext-0.17-7.zip
├── mingw32-glib2-2.19.5-2.zip
├── mingw32-iconv-1.12-7.zip
├── SDL-1.2.13.tar.gz
├── SDL_gfx-2.0.19.tar.gz
├── SDL_image-1.2.10.tar.gz
├── SDL_mixer-1.2.12-win32-x64.zip
├── SDL_mixer-1.2.12-win32.zip
├── SDL_mixer-devel-1.2.12-VC.zip
├── SDL_ttf-2.0.9.tar.gz
├── tiff-4.0.1.tar.gz
└── zlib-1.2.3.tar.gz

The project maintainer asks the following about these libraries:

    "* packaging/windows/cross-compilation/external_libraries/*

    The files present in that directory are not a part of
    the MLV Library.
    I use them to construct a chain of compilation for mingw-32.
    Are we obliged to add licences ?"

I checked the libraries in the "external_libraries" directory and they are free
software and their licenses are compatible with GPL. The following libraries
include copyright and license notices as required by they respective licenses:

external_libraries
├── freetype-2.3.9.tar.gz
├── jpegsrc.v8d.tar.gz
├── libpng-1.4.1.tar.gz
├── libxml2-git-snapshot.tar.gz
├── SDL-1.2.13.tar.gz
├── SDL_gfx-2.0.19.tar.gz
├── SDL_image-1.2.10.tar.gz
├── SDL_mixer-1.2.12-win32-x64.zip
├── SDL_mixer-1.2.12-win32.zip
├── SDL_mixer-devel-1.2.12-VC.zip
├── SDL_ttf-2.0.9.tar.gz
├── tiff-4.0.1.tar.gz
└── zlib-1.2.3.tar.gz

The following libraries, however, don't seem to include a README or COPYING
file with appropriate copyright and license notices:

external_libraries
├── libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll               (GPL 3 or later)
├── libSDL_mixer.la                   (auto-generated file)
├── libSDL_mixer.la.in               (auto-generated file)
├── libstdc++-6.dll                    (GPL 3 or later)
├── libz.la.in                             (auto-generated file)
├── mingw32-gettext-0.17-7.zip   (GPL 3 or later)
├── mingw32-glib2-2.19.5-2.zip   (LGPL 2 or later)
└── mingw32-iconv-1.12-7.zip     (LGPL 2 or later)

I don't know exactly how the project maintainer should handle these
libraries legally, so I'm asking you for advice.


Thanks,

--

Felipe Lopez

http://sirgazil.info/