Subject: [bug#27468] [PATCH] gnu: Add linkchecker.

From: Marius Bakke <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 19:43:19 +0200

Arun Isaac <[email-masked]> writes:

>>> +    (license (list l:gpl2+
>>> +                   l:bsd-2 ; linkcheck/better_exchook2.py
>>> +                   l:bsd-3 ; linkcheck/colorama.py
>>> +                   l:psfl  ; linkcheck/gzip2.py
>>> +                   l:expat ; linkcheck/mem.py
>>> +                   l:isc   ; third_party/dnspython
>>> +                   l:asl2.0)))) ; third_party/miniboa
>>
>> Is it possible to remove these third party libraries and use packaged
>> copies instead?  At least 'dnspython' is already in Guix.
>
> linkchecker is using a modified version of dnspython and miniboa. So, I
> don't think it will be easy. For a list of modifications, look at
> https://github.com/wummel/linkchecker/blob/master/third_party/dnspython/changelog.txt
> and https://github.com/wummel/linkchecker/blob/master/third_party/miniboa-r42/CHANGES.txt

OK, thanks for checking.

>> Also, since GPL2+ is stricter than the other licenses, the program as a
>> whole is effectively GPL2+, so we don't really need to mention those
>> one-off source files in the license field (but comments are great).
>
> But, we generally don't hide this information from the user, right? Many
> Guix packages have licenses of even single files mentioned in the
> `license' field. Do you still think I should remove them?

I don't know :-) Licensing is a tricky topic.  The GPL is rather
explicit in that it covers the "program as a whole".  If we treat
individual parts differently, it may be misleading to the end user.

OTOH, the GPL permits using those source files individually under their
own terms.  Perhaps the most practical solution would be to add a
"supplementary licenses" interface...

I am not a lawyer, so please use your own judgement.  No strong opinion
either way.  :-)

>> Not sure about the 3rd party bundles though, since they probably don't
>> depend on anything from the GPL2+ distribution.  If they are installed,
>> I guess we should mention them with a FIXME.
>
> I've added a FIXME.
>
> I'm attaching a new patch with the discussed changes. Do let me know if
> everything looks good.

LGTM!