Re: [Chessdb-users] some bugs
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From: Dr. D. K. <dav...@on...> - 2007-04-10 16:40:37
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Christian Pinedo Zamalloa wrote: > On Tue, Apr 10, 2007 at 08:50:20AM +0100, Dr. David Kirkby wrote: > >>Christian Pinedo Zamalloa wrote: >> >>>Hello, >>> >>>I'm Christian Pinedo (my nickname zako) and I was working some time ago >>>with Dr. Kirkby on making a Debian package of ChessDB. Preliminary >>>packages are available at [1] and a debian developer has emailed me and >>>said that he's interested on sponsoring the package. A great new. >>> >>>[1] http://bipt106.bi.ehu.es/debian/packages/chessdb/ >>> >>>But to package chessdb some issues about the copyright and licenses >>>should be well defined. I think this issues should be also interesting >>>for you and so I have opened some bugs in the BTS of chessdb. >>> >>>1. The chessdb source distribution "chessdb-3.6.15.tar.gz" includes >>>software from third parties: phalanx, zlib, ... That in my opinion >>>shouldn't been distributed but you should write in the readme/install >>>file that should be necesary/recommended to have installed some software in >>>order to compile/use chessdb. This is the standard way. >> >>Yes, I tend to agree with you about zlib. I based ChessDB on Scid, where >>Shane had included zlib. I think he did it as a convenience. In any >>case, I find it hard to believe there are that many people will not have >>zlib installed, or if they don't, it would be listed as a dependency. >> > > > In fact, in order to compile chessdb from source in GNU/Linux I need to > have installed zlib development files (in debian they are available > thanks to the zlib1g-dev package) because if I don't have this package > the configuration process gives the following error: > > # ./configure > ... > Checking if your system already has zlib installed: no. > ... > > So I understand that the zlib sources provided by ChessDB are not really > used in the build process. > > >>The Phalanx is not actually used at all, so I was thinking of removing >>that. >> >> >>>2. Furthermore, some parts chessdb is based on like sounds, bitmaps, >>>bitmaps2, tablebases, ... could have copyright and license >>>different of the chessdb. >> >>The sounds were distributed with scid which was GPL'ed. I can't say I >>know exactly the source of them, but they have been available in a >>GPL'ed software for a very long time. >> >>I can't see what is the problem with the bitmaps either. They are from >>the GPL'ed Scid and appear to be modified versions of bitmaps released >>under the GPL. >> >>I will concede I am not sure about the tablebases. Perhaps all the >>tablebases should be removed, and added as an "extras" package which may >>or may not be available on debian. Perhaps that will improve matters. >> > > > I did this question because in the COPYING file there are only two > Copyrights about the ChessDB software, Shane and David, but in some > files other copyrights appear: download.tcl (Warren Lewis & David), But COPYING does say: "Other copyrights exists for some parts of ChessDB too. See the source files." Its difficult to make a totally exhaustive list, since the information is not always readily available. I > pane.tcl (Lucent Technologies & Mark Harrison), telnet.tcl (Todd J > Martin), I asked Todd Martin whether I could incorportant his tcltelnet package some months back, since it it *not* a GPL'ed program. This was his reply: > There is no problem with that. This is exactly why I chose the > BSD license. I want people to be able to easily use this and > embed it in other applications. I'm glad you find tcltelnet useful. so that was is easy to solve. > init.tcl (Regents of the University of California, Sun > Microsystems, ...), ... I think init.tcl is distibuted along with the gpl'ed tcl package. I'll check that one. > Although I don't know if last files are part of > ChessDB or are third party software distributed inside ChessDB. > In case of being part of scid/chessdb there is no problem because the > license is GPL "version 2 or any later". But in case of being part of > other software should be explained more detailed which part is a third > party software with which copyright and which license. OK, I will do this. > In the case of sounds and bitmaps, they form part of scid/chessdb and if > they was made by scid project the license and copyrights are clear. Well that is no different to zlib, since that was part of Scid. > About the tablebases, you should know who is their author (copyright) and the > licensed under they are distributed (public domain, GPL, ...) The tablebases are the most complex, as I fully admit I don't know. > I don't want to say to you what you should delete from ChessDB source > realease or not. You make a great software and I enjoy it. If you > consider that is better for the general user to distribute > phalanx/tablebases/zlib instead of indicating the software > needed/recommended in a file like README or INSTALL I could agree with > you. But I would be very pleased if the contributions of third party > software should be better indicated or better organized because I will > have to delete them before uploading to Debian. OK, will do. I think I will delete phalanx and zlib anyway. I'm not sure they serve a particularly useful purpose. > This is my point of view that could be wrong. My english is very basic > so if something sounds impolite that is not my intention :-). > > Regards, Leave it with me. I will make a new release, removing some of these extra files, with some extra notes/explanations in places. Dave |