GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 721565
License text contains obsolete FSF postal address
Last modified: 2014-02-19 17:56:41 UTC
These files contain license with obsolete FSF postal address: gparted/COPYING: 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA gparted/COPYING: Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA gparted/compose/ucompose.hpp: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 gparted/include/Copy_Blocks.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/DMRaid.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Device.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/DialogFeatures.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/DialogManageFlags.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Base_Partition.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Disklabel.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Partition_Copy.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Partition_Info.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Partition_Label.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Partition_New.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Partition_Resize_Move.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Progress.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Dialog_Rescue_Data.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/DrawingAreaVisualDisk.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/FS_Info.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/FileSystem.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Frame_Resizer_Base.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Frame_Resizer_Extended.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/GParted_Core.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/HBoxOperations.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/LVM2_PV_Info.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Operation.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationChangeUUID.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationCheck.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationCopy.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationCreate.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationDelete.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationDetail.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationFormat.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationLabelPartition.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/OperationResizeMove.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Partition.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/PipeCapture.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Proc_Partitions_Info.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/TreeView_Detail.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Utils.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/Win_GParted.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/btrfs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/exfat.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/ext2.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/f2fs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/fat16.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/hfs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/hfsplus.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/jfs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/linux_swap.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/lvm2_pv.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/nilfs2.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/ntfs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/reiser4.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/reiserfs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/ufs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/include/xfs.h: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Copy_Blocks.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/DMRaid.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Device.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/DialogFeatures.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/DialogManageFlags.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Base_Partition.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Disklabel.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Partition_Copy.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Partition_Info.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Partition_Label.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Partition_New.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Partition_Resize_Move.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Progress.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Dialog_Rescue_Data.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/DrawingAreaVisualDisk.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/FS_Info.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/FileSystem.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Frame_Resizer_Base.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Frame_Resizer_Extended.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/GParted_Core.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/HBoxOperations.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/LVM2_PV_Info.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Operation.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationChangeUUID.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationCheck.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationCopy.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationCreate.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationDelete.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationDetail.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationFormat.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationLabelPartition.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/OperationResizeMove.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Partition.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/PipeCapture.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Proc_Partitions_Info.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/TreeView_Detail.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Utils.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/Win_GParted.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/btrfs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/exfat.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/ext2.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/f2fs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/fat16.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/hfs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/hfsplus.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/jfs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/linux_swap.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/lvm2_pv.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/main.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/nilfs2.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/ntfs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/reiser4.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/reiserfs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/ufs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. gparted/src/xfs.cc: * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
Thank you Andika for your interest in GParted. I have moved this request to low priority because I believe the Copyright notice is still valid, even if there is an error in the FSF address. I took a quick peek at the GPL v3 licence and I did not observe an address listed at all. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt Do you know of a pressing need to change the address? If so, then I suspect that many other projects will be in the same position. Also it would help to know what the new address should be. Because the original copyright notice was likely copied verbatim from the GPL v2+ text by the original author of GParted, I am hesitant to make any changes to it.
Hi Curtis, Yes, there are several modules affected by this same issue. We have created a metabug to track them, and we are working to fix them. You can change the obsolete address text with the following one: You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. This way you won't have to worry about further changes in FSF's address. Pressing need of change no... but it's interesting to have it up-to-date to avoid conflicts. Thanks!
Thank you Daniel for your comments and suggested replacement text. Unfortunately there is a side-effect of changing all the source code files. Specifically it makes it harder to track down problems using tools such as git blame. For more detail on this problem, see the discussion on the issue of removing all trailing white space from the GParted source files: Bug #696471 - Fix trailing whitespace errors Curtis
Hi Curtis, Since all modification will only be done on comment lines, I think it won't affect git blame much.
Created attachment 265836 [details] [review] Patch to update FSF's address Curtis, here is the patch to fix the wrong address.
Hi, Looking at the copy permission statement in every file I wonder if there is another mistake which needs correcting. Specifically from: 9 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 10 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 11 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the >> 12 * GNU Library General Public License for more details. to: ... >> 12 * GNU General Public License for more details. Reference: How to use GNU licenses for your own software http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html Thanks, Mike
Yes, seems to be a mistake in the header: * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the * GNU Library General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. In both paragraphs it should be "GNU General Public License". I'll fix the patch and send it again. Thanks for pointing it out!
Created attachment 267032 [details] [review] Patch updated Here is the patch updated with both changes: FSF's address and license name
Created attachment 267055 [details] [review] Replace obsolete FSF postal address (v3) Hi Daniel, I suspect you've done a global replace of 'GNU Library General' -> 'GNU General' and thus incorrectly removed references to the LGPL in the pre and post able sections of the COPYING file. Attached is v3 of the patch. It removes changes to the COPYING file and updates the commit message a bit. Andika / Daniel, Do you have the number of the metabug or other document with the motivation for this change? Just so that I might put some why information into the commit message. Curtis, If you don't have any issues with this change I'll commit it in a few days, optionally with a commit message update. Thanks, Mike
Mike, no problem from my side to commit the patch with your changes. In fact, I've done a massive replace and maybe it has changed some lines it shouldn't... sorry! This is the number of the metabug used to track this issue: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=721455 Thanks for your help!
Hi Daniel, I've added the why details to the commit message and pushed the following to the GIT repository ready for inclusion in the next release of GParted: Replace obsolete FSF postal address in copyright notices (#721565) https://git.gnome.org/browse/gparted/commit/?id=3861b9257bf319b9e2d22058e4cd1b331bf42673 Thanks, Mike
Thanks Mike! :)
Thank you Andika for raising this issue, and thank you Daniel and Mike for your work on developing and reviewing the patch. Regarding the word "Library" in "GNU Library General" I agree that this seems to be an oversight when applying the original license to the GParted application. When I looked up the "GNU Library General Public License" I came across the following link: https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/library.html As I understand it, the "Library" license was intended for library files, and not applications or programs. In fact the earlier portion of the license text in the GParted files contains lines that start with "This program is free software" or "This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful" which clearly indicate the software is a "program" and not a "library". Hence this looks like an oversight when originally applying the license.
This enhancement was included in the GParted 0.18.0 release on February 19, 2014.