Unicode character database licensing & inclusion (was: [patch 10/11] UTF-8: New function unicode_fold_label_case and a related script.)

Jonas Fonseca <[email protected]> writes:

> We already have derivative work of the Unicode SGML entity table.
> So adding this to the documentation should be done anyway.

Is the license at <http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html#Exhibit1>
compatible with the GNU General Public License, so that a work
(e.g. a function) derived from the Unicode Character Database can
be included in ELinks without violating the GNU GPL?

I suspect it is not, because item (b) in this Unicode license
requires including the copyright and permission notices "in
associated documentation", whereas GNU GPL version 2 does not
appear to require this, and section 6 of GPLv2 does not allow
further restrictions.  Specifically, section 1 of GPLv2 requires
notices to be published "on each copy"; in source distributions,
this allows the notices to be part of source code and does not
require segregating them into documentation.  Also, section 1
does not seem to require preserving permission notices, except
ones that refer to the GPL itself.

However, the requirements of items (a) and (b) also appear in
the "Standard ML of New Jersey Copyright License", which the
Free Software Foundation lists as GPL-compatible at
<http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/index_html#GPLCompatibleLicenses>.
So the FSF probably thinks items (a) and (b) do not make the
license GPL-incompatible.

Item (c) requires notices for modified files, in both the files
themselves and in associated documentation.  On the other hand,
section 2a of GPLv2 only requires notices in the modified files.
It is unclear whether there is a requirement similar to item (c)
in any of the licenses that the FSF considers GPL-compatible;
there might be one in "W3C Software Notice and License".

Oh, and which version of Unicode is ELinks trying to support?

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