Re: Bug#1135657: bmagic: DFSG Issues

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On Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:55:11 +0300 Adrian Bunk wrote:

[...]
> 4-clause BSD with the advertising clause has always been recognized
> as DFSG-free (and is also listed at [1]):
>=20
>   All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this
>   software must display the following acknowledgement: This product
>   includes software developed by the <copyright holder>.

Yes, although it is obnoxious, deprecated, problematic and
almost everywhere recommended against, it has been traditionally
considered acceptable with respect to the DFSG.

The obnoxious advertising clause might be seen as similar to the bmagic
license clause under consideration.
So, maybe bmagic complies with the DFSG.

>=20
>=20
> AGPLv3 with the following clause is DFSG-free[2]:
>=20
>   Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify
>   the Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users=20
>   interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your=20
>   version supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the=20
>   Corresponding Source of your version by providing access to the=20
>   Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge, through
>   some standard or customary means of facilitating copying of
>   software.

I believe that this is an unfortunate example, for at least two reasons.

First off, the GNU AfferoGPL v3 is a controversial license, which (this is
true) has been considered acceptable for main by the Debian FTP Masters
[2], but is seen as non-acceptable by a number of people (including me
[3]).

Secondly, I don't see much similarity between this clause and the bmagic
license clause under consideration. Hence, I don't think that the
DFSG-freeness of works released under the terms of the GNU AfferoGPL v3
is too relevant for the topic we're discussing here.

[...]
> [1] https://www.debian.org/legal/licenses/
> [2] https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?msg=3D17;bug=3D495721

[3] https://bugs.debian.org/495721#28



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