Ethereal-dev: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Van Jacobson dissector.

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From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 13:50:07 -0800 (PST)
>  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
>  * provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
>  * duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
>  * advertising materials, and other materials related to such
>  * distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
>  * by the University of California, Berkeley.  The name of the
>  * University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived
>  * from this software without specific prior written permission.
>  * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
>  * IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
>  * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether the advertising clause in there:

	...and that any documentation, advertising materials, and other
	materials related to such distribution and use acknowledge that
	the software was developed by the University of California,
	Berkeley.

renders this incompatible with the GPL:

	http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLIncompatibleLicenses

"The original BSD license. 

     (Note: on the preceding link, the original BSD license is listed in
     the "UCB/LBL" section.) This is a simple, permissive non-copyleft
     free software license with a serious flaw: the ``obnoxious BSD
     advertising clause''.  The flaw is not fatal; that is, it does not
     render the software non-free.  But it does cause practical
     problems, including incompatibility with the GNU GPL."

It doesn't have the full-blown "obnoxious BSD advertising clause" - as
per

	http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/bsd.html

that's

	3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this
	   software must display the following acknowledgement:
	     This product includes software developed by the University of
	     California, Berkeley and its contributors.

but it still appears to impose an additional restriction on
redistributors of the software, which clause 6 of the GPL:

	6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on
	the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license
	from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the
	Program subject to these terms and conditions.  You may not
	impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of
	the rights granted herein.  You are not responsible for
	enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.

forbids, as I understand it.

Is there any VJ-compressed PPP code in, say, Linux?  That code would (if
it's part of the standard Linux kernel) be covered by the GPL, not by
the BSD license, so it might make a better version).