http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2002/debian-devel-200208/msg00080.html To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org Subject: Upcoming bug mass-filing re. non-free TrueType fonts in main From: Ben Armstrong Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2002 13:16:14 -0300 User-agent: Mutt/1.3.28i Hi, I have just completed a review of packages in main containing .ttf fonts. This review will shortly lead to bug filings against each package, but first, in accordance with developers-reference 7.1.1 I am posting my findings here for discussion. The initial list was produced with 'apt-file search '\.ttf' to locate binary packages with TrueType fonts in them. I then eliminated packages containing only fonts, as I am hoping that the maintainers have already done the necessary checking of licenses for the fonts they have packaged.[1] (If you maintain a font package and are not confident that you have thoroughly checked the licenses of all fonts contained within them, please do so.) From this list, I then took a sampling of fonts contained within the source packages and ran 'strings' on them to look for copyright notices. I also looked at readme documents contained in the font directories, if present. As soon as I located one or two fonts that were verifiably non-free, I moved on to the next package. Thus, the annotated list below is *not* a comprehensive listing of all non-free fonts in these packages. There may be other non-free fonts contained in them, but I simply didn't have the time to check every single font. I focused on known non-free fonts and for the time being have ignored fonts merely listed as 'freeware' with unknown licenses. I was not certain about whether the license for these 'freeware' fonts was included elsewhere in the package -- but a font just marked 'freeware' with no license attached is non-free as well. There are a handful of these, included at the end. I will not be filing bugs against these at this time. Finally, it has been suggested that I file bugs against linda and lintian to put some checks into place to scan fonts for known non-free licenses to prevent this sort of mishap in future. So now, the list of packages in violation of non-free font licenses: icewm-themes - contains 'chicago' (Apple) caudium - contains 'verdana' (Microsoft) pygame - contains 'bluebold' (Larabie)[0] roxen2 - contains 'quadrang' (Larabie)[0] enlightenment - contains 'aircut3' and 'rothwell' (Larabie)[0] epplets - contains 'aircut3' (Larabie)[0] feh - contains 'helmetr' (Sun)[1] gozer - contains 'helmetr' (Sun)[1] hatman - contains 'casual' -- name is 'Frankenstein' in font file itself (Corel) mangoquest - contains 'tahomabd' (Microsoft) phluid - contains 'nationff' (White)[2] tuxpaint[3] - contains 'chicago' (Apple) xplanet - contains 'helmetr' (Sun)[1] Here are packages containing ttf files marked 'freeware', a meaningless term[4]. I have not yet determined if the licenses these are under are DFSG-compatible, as it is not immediately apparent that they even have licenses included (and as noted above, a licenseless font is non-free). evas - contains 'andover', 'cinema', etc. libphp-phplot - contains 'benjamingothic' Finally, this package contains an original font contributed to the project and licensed under the GPL (how refreshing!) yudit - contains 'yudit' an original, DFSG-free font Footnotes: [0] Larabie fonts are 'freeware' with non-free license and have been made into non-free packages [1] I have been told that the OpenOffice fonts are not free and were pulled from CVS a short while ago. This puts ttf-openoffice into question and any other package that contains a font included in ttf-openoffice. I need confirmation of this before I can file bugs. [2] The copyright notice in this font is: Freeware - Copyright [c] - Roger White - 1994 - All Rights Reserved. [3] This is my own package, and is the one that prompted me to start this search, as I had discovered it contained Apple's 'Chicago' font. I then started looking for a suitable replacement font under a DFSG-free license. I was disappointed to find that virtually every so-called 'free' font I found failed the DFSG. [4] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#freeware Ben -- nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca Debian http://www.debian.org synrg@debian.org [ pgp key fingerprint = 7F DA 09 4B BA 2C 0D E0 1B B1 31 ED C6 A9 39 4F ] [ gpg key fingerprint = 395C F3A4 35D3 D247 1387 2D9E 5A94 F3CA 0B27 13C8 ]