IRCd-Hybrid with OpenSSL support in Debian: licences conflictresolution

[Aurélien GÉRÔME]

On Sun, Sep 03, 2006 at 11:27:45AM -0400, Jon Lusky wrote:
> Changing the license is much easier said than done.  There are many
> copyright holders in IRCD-Hybrid, many that predate the Hybrid project, and
> changing the license would require approval by all of them.

I guess you are right, IRCD-Hybrid GPL cannot be altered. It is pure
GPL'ed, period. :)

The only valid option which remains is to modify IRCD-Hybrid to use
GNUTLS. Easier said than done too, but nearer to the reality. If
everything is GPL'ed, there is no issue. I was exploring the "no
coding" option, before starting to think of a GNUTLS port...

> The simplest solution is for Debian to include OpenSSL as part of their base
> operating system, then there would be no licensing conflict if users linked
> against OpenSSL. However, if someone would like to volunteer to modify
> ircd-hybrid so that it can use either OpenSSL or GNUTLS, that would be
> great.  

OpenSSL is included in Debian, it is not the issue at hand. What is
problematic is that we cannot legally link IRCD-Hybrid with OpenSSL,
because of the pure GPL and OpenSSL Licence conflict. Debian is strict
with licensing and I find it natural.

Therefore, the Debian package will stay as-is with no SSL support by
default, till someone or I start to port IRCD-Hybrid on GNUTLS. ;)

Cheers,
-- 
 .''`.   Aurélien GÉRÔME
: :'  :
`. `'`   Free Software Developer
  `-     Unix Sys & Net Admin
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