Re: Where are the licence texts for each package?

[Christopher Faylor <cgf-use-the-mailinglist-please at cygwin dot com>]

On Fri, Aug 08, 2008 at 10:56:11AM +0000, Marvin wrote:
>Thanks for your time answering, I appreciate that OSS is donated to
>the community and is usually supported by volunteers, and am grateful
>for all such software, but by not clearly advertising its licenses 
>Cygwin makes it hard for people and corporations who wish to use the 
>software and respect the licenses.
>
>Corrina wrote:
>>> Is there any definitive way to view precisely what licenses Cygwin
>>> and it's packages are shipped under?
>
>>The definitve way is to look into the sources.
>
>He-he - I have to read the source to find the license so that I can
>find if I'm allowed to download and use the binaries? 
>There's a chicken and egg problem there.

No, actually there's not.  Just go to a mirror site and find the source
code.  Download it, unpack it with some kind of tool that understands
.tar.bz2.  Find the license.

This is, AFAIK, no different than any linux or freebsd distribution.
They don't list the licenses for every single package either.

>I'm asking where the licenses are so I can get legal approval to
>download and use the binary software.

You made that clear in your first message.  No need to rehash it.

>I've already been expressly forbidden to download or read any open
>source code (I'd have thought this was standard practice for any
>software house that didn't release everything under OSS licenses).

That's new.  But, looking for a file called "LICENSE" or "COPYRIGHT" is
not tantamount to reading open source code.

But, bottom line, it sounds like you can't use the software from any
cygwin or linux or freebsd distribution.

cgf