[Asterisk-biz] distribution of asterisk

[Kevin P. Fleming]

trixter aka Bret McDanel wrote:

> The gpl states that  if you display a copyright you must state that the
> program is GPLed (if it so infact is) and that there is no warrantee
> (unless there is infact a warantee).
> 
> my_shell_prompt# asterisk -r
> Asterisk SVN-branch-1.2-r7557M, Copyright (C) 1999 - 2005 Digium.
> Written by Mark Spencer <markster at digium.com>
> =========================================================================
> 
> 
> This is not the case, as such asterisk is in violation of the gpl for
> that.  So I have to modify that before I distribute it to avoid
> distributing something in violation of the GPL.

This is absolutely correct.

> Further not all of asterisk is GPL, there are some BSD things, some LGPL
> and I have no idea regarding the ilbc codec (copyrights are included in
> th source tree but nothing stating what the license is and I havent
> looked at ietfs stuff for that).  As such simply disclaiming it as GPL
> is misleading at best, worst could be a license violation.

Also correct. We'll get this fixed ASAP, so that the message either stop 
talking about the copyright (unlikely) or correctly refers to the GPL 
and the other included licenses.

> At any rate, I didnt know if anyone had a repository of all the
> different licenses involved and what the terms of each license was.  It
> doesnt appear that there is, so perhaps I will try to inventory
> everything in asterisk and make some kinda check list.  Simply knowing
> what licenses are there (I think there are only 4 or 5 in the GPL
> version of asterisk) and to which modules (ie a matrix) would be helpful
> so if you dont like a license its quick and easy (sorta) to remove the
> offending components on a per distribution basis.  Along with the matrix
> an itemized list of what all must be done for each license would be a
> nice addition as well.  If I have time I will work on that later.  The
> matrix should be trivial, basically its GPL unless otherwise noted ...

As I said, I had started working on this, but had not yet reviewed the 
entire source base. If you are willing to work on this, I'd be happy to 
help get it done quickly and accurately. Email me off-list and we'll get 
it done.