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Hi Kalev,
[TL;DR: I'm leaning towards "probably not, unless the Chasseur de bots
Association, which appears to hold the copyright on the relevant
proprietary game media assets, provides clear and written clarification
on the text in Section 4, perhaps through redrafting the license itself."]
I looked over your attached document. It appears that Warsow has two
licenses:
1. Source code - GPL (version not specified)
2. All other media assets - proprietary Warsow Content License
To see if this combination could be acceptable in Fedora, I looked at
the Guidelines for Shareware software
(
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:LicensingGuidelines?rd=Packaging...),
which specifically mentions open source game engines combined with
"freely distributable shareware gamedata files. In this case, the
gamedata files can be packaged and included in Fedora, as long as the
files meet the requirements for binary firmware."
Following the link to the policies on binary firmware
(
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:LicensingGuidelines?rd=Packaging...),
we learn that, among other things if "The files are standalone, not
embedded in executable or library code (within the Fedora OS context),"
then the package cannot be included.
Scrolling to near the bottom of your attachment, we find the "Warsow
Content License". Section 3 states "You may not copy, modify, publish,
transmit, sell, participate in the transfer or sale or reproduce, create
Derivative Works from, distribute, perform, display or in any way
exploit any of the Material released under this License unless expressly
permitted by the Warsow Team."
I then looked for what type of activity may be "expressly permitted by
the Warsow Team" under this license. The relevant text, Section 4, reads
"You may freely distribute the Warsow archive/installer unmodified on
any media. You may re-compress using different archival formats suitable
for your OS (i.e. zip/tgz/rpm/deb/dmg), any changes beyond that require
explicit permission of the Chasseur de bots association."
The "Warsow archive/installer" is not defined in the license text, which
is unfortunate and creates ambiguity as to what is precisely being
licensed. It is possible that, given the reference to different archival
formats in Section 4, "archive/installer" refers to a compressed file
containing a combination of open source code and proprietary game media
assets.
If that's the case, then it appears that Section 4 of the Warsow Content
License conflicts with the Fedora Licensing Guidelines on Binary
Firmware, as mentioned above ("The files are standalone, not embedded in
executable or library code (within the Fedora OS context). "). That
would block Warsow from being included for packaging for Fedora.
If the Chasseur de bots Association were to be contacted, this problem
could be resolved. If an authorized agent for the association could
provide clear and written clarification regarding Section 4, ideally
through redrafting the license itself, then this matter could be
revisited in light of the new and/or clarified licensing regime.
Thanks,
Adam Saunders
On 05/17/2014 03:51 PM, Kalev Lember wrote:
Hi,
Could someone please review the attached Warsow Content License to see
if content licensed under those terms is appropriate for inclusion in
Fedora? I assume it's not, but I'd be grateful if someone could give an
authoritative answer.
Thanks in advance,
Kalev
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On 05/17/2014 03:51 PM, Kalev Lember wrote:
Hi,
Could someone please review the attached Warsow Content License to see
if content licensed under those terms is appropriate for inclusion in
Fedora? I assume it's not, but I'd be grateful if someone could give an
authoritative answer.
Thanks in advance,
Kalev
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