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Bug 888 - licensing issue with src/joystick/os2/joyos2.h
Summary: licensing issue with src/joystick/os2/joyos2.h
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: SDL
Classification: Unclassified
Component: joystick (show other bugs)
Version: 1.2.14
Hardware: Other Linux
: P2 normal
Assignee: Ryan C. Gordon
QA Contact: Sam Lantinga
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2009-11-16 11:15 UTC by Tom Callaway
Modified: 2009-11-16 21:15 UTC (History)
0 users

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Description Tom Callaway 2009-11-16 11:15:25 UTC 
One of the source files included with SDL (src/joystick/os2/joyos2.h) has a licensing issue. Specifically, it says:

/*****************************************************************************/
/*                                                                           */
/* COPYRIGHT    Copyright (C) 1995 IBM Corporation                           */
/*                                                                           */
/*    The following IBM OS/2 source code is provided to you solely for       */
/*    the purpose of assisting you in your development of OS/2 device        */
/*    drivers. You may use this code in accordance with the IBM License      */
/*    Agreement provided in the IBM Device Driver Source Kit for OS/2. This  */
/*    Copyright statement may not be removed.                                */
/*                                                                           */
/*****************************************************************************/

No copy of the "IBM License Agreement" is included with SDL, nor was I able to find a copy of it on the internet.

Barring a copy of the license agreement, one can only assume that the copyright holder did not grant any additional rights beyond those automatically granted by copyright law. Notably, this means that there is no clear permission to copy, modify, or redistribute this file. In addition, there is a very high likelyhood that this file (and any other files under this "IBM License Agreement" are license incompatible with LGPL.

Even though Fedora does not use this code at all, it is likely that we are distributing this file without permission from IBM. It would be nice to either have the licensing on this file clarified, or to simply remove this file from the source tarball.
Comment 1 Sam Lantinga 2009-11-16 21:15:20 UTC 
Thanks for the heads up!  The OS/2 joystick code has been removed in revision 5263.