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Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2012 14:52:57 +0400
From: Alexander Cherepanov <cherepan@...me.ru>
To: john-dev@...ts.openwall.com
Subject: Re: unrar license is not compatible with gpl, it is not
free at all
On 2012-09-29 03:40, magnum wrote:
> On 29 Sep, 2012, at 0:42 , Aleksey Cherepanov <aleksey.4erepanov@...il.com> wrote:
>
>> It seems thwt john uses *non-free* unrar code. It is a problem.
>>
>> Problematic clause:
>> 2. The UnRAR sources may be used in any software to handle RAR
>> archives without limitations free of charge, but cannot be used
>> to re-create the RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary.
>> Distribution of modified UnRAR sources in separate form or as a
>> part of other software is permitted, provided that it is clearly
>> stated in the documentation and source comments that the code may
>> not be used to develop a RAR (WinRAR) compatible archiver.
>>
>> Strictly saying unrar's license is *not* compatible with GPL. So all
>> binaries with it inside *aren't* redistributable.
>
> We are not trying to create RAR archives, at all. We are just trying to decompress. Given that, what is the problem?
The problem is not a violation of the unrar license. It's not violated
AFAICT.
The are two problems.
1. unrar is not Free/Open Source Software (in any sense -- DFSG, FSF,
OSI) so we'll probably want to clean jumbo of any traces of unrar just
because of that.
2. The unrar license is GPL-incompatible so distribution of a combined
work violates licenses of any contributors using GPL as their license.
This can be solved to some extent by contacting all such contributor and
asking for unrar exception or by excluding their contributions. But I
doubt it's worth it given the first problem.
--
Alexander Cherepanov
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