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List:       kde-policies
Subject:    Licensing policy allows non-free licence for media files
From:       Luke Dashjr <luke () dashjr ! org>
Date:       2017-05-01 15:36:22
Message-ID: 201705011536.23039.luke () dashjr ! org
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From https://community.kde.org/Policies/Licensing_Policy :

> 11. Standalone media files such as images may be licensed under the Creative
> Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence at
> http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . This does not apply to
> icons or anything which is likely to be mixed with content under our normal
> (GPL etc) licences.

For what purpose is this exception made? It does not seem that any KDE 
projects (until recently*) rely on media using this licence, and this licence 
is not a free licence considering its restriction in section 4(d):

> Except as otherwise agreed in writing by the Licensor or as may be otherwise
> permitted by applicable law, if You Reproduce, Distribute or Publicly
> Perform the Work either by itself or as part of any Adaptations or
> Collections, You must not distort, mutilate, modify or take other derogatory
> action in relation to the Work which would be prejudicial to the Original
> Author's honor or reputation.

I suggest either removing this exception entirely, or at least upgrading it to 
the 4.0 version of the licence, which appears to have removed this clause and 
is a free licence.

Furthermore, the licensing policy page seems to not be entirely clear that 
these exceptions are indeed merely exceptions. Assuming my understanding of 
this is correct, would there be any objection to me just editing the page to 
clarify this point?

* KWave recently licensed a sample media file under CC-BY-SA-3.0, 
(mis?)interpreting the licensing policy to require this. It would seem the 
author (CC'd) does not care about it being non-free, so long as it meets KDE's 
policies; this is what prompts me to seek this change to the policy.
(see KWave bug report at https://sourceforge.net/p/kwave/bugs/45/ )

Luke

P.S. Please CC me to replies, as I am not subscribed to the mailing list.
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