DMCA

Posted Dec 7, 2011 10:14 UTC (Wed) by Los__D (guest, #15263)
In reply to: DMCA by ewan
Parent article: C|Net Download.Com accused of bundling Nmap with malware

No, it GPLv2 plus one exception for OpenSSL. The 'clarifications' are just information about how the authors interpret the phrase 'derived work'. Their interpretation may or may not be correct, but they're not saying that you have to accept their interpretation to get a licence, they're just telling you what it is.

Fyodor doesn't agree with you (even though I do):
This is exactly why Nmap isn't under the plain GPL. Our license (http://nmap.org/book/man-legal.html) specifically adds a clause forbidding software which "integrates/includes/aggregates Nmap into a proprietary executable installer" unless that software itself conforms to various GPL requirements (this proprietary C|Net download.com software and the toolbar don't).

DMCA

Posted Dec 7, 2011 11:35 UTC (Wed) by ewan (guest, #5533) [Link]

Interesting, but I'd have thought the plain GPL did that just fine - the installer binary is clearly a derived work of nmap since it includes the whole thing, and can't reasonably be considered 'mere aggregation [...] on a volume of a storage or distribution medium', so the GPL would prohibit redistribution of the whole unless the other components were available under the GPL as well, which seems to be exactly what Fyodor suggests is the intended behaviour of the licence.