Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 28th Sep 2006 22:44 UTC, submitted by csousa
Mozilla & Gecko clones Debian adheres to a strict interpretation of what is Free Software and what isn't. The Firefox logo is trademarked, so Debian doesn't consider it to be Free and will not include it as part of its distribution. Mozilla claims that using the Firefox name without the official branding is a trademark violation. Furthermore, Mozilla claims that if Debian runs any patches to the version of Firefox included with Debian distros, it has to run them by Mozilla first for approval. What all this ultimately could mean is that the Firefox name is wiped from the face of Debian and its offshoots. Debian developer Eric Dorland confirmed to internetnews.com that Debian will re-name Firefox and that the re-naming process could be completed as soon as next week.
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RE[2]: So much for freedom
by ma_d on Thu 28th Sep 2006 23:29 UTC in reply to "RE: So much for freedom"
ma_d
Member since:
2005-06-29

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

It's within Debian's rights. I think it's silly, but it's probably just Debian following its own rules without exception.
I've never liked intolerant rules much, but oh well. It's not really a big deal...

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

Anonymous Coward Member since:
2005-07-06

Isn't Firefox under the Mozilla Public License? The GPL may be similar, but the link is irrelevant.

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RE[4]: So much for freedom
by ma_d on Fri 29th Sep 2006 03:21 in reply to "RE[3]: So much for freedom"
ma_d Member since:
2005-06-29

It's the same idea, it's a modified license. The point is that the idea of gpl/mpl/qpl software is to make it free for users to repackage it.

But I think they have to rename it, and not call it "firefox".

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RE[3]: So much for freedom
by Don Grayson on Fri 29th Sep 2006 02:06 in reply to "RE[2]: So much for freedom"
Don Grayson Member since:
2006-01-01

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

It's within Debian's rights. I think it's silly, but it's probably just Debian following its own rules without exception.
I've never liked intolerant rules much, but oh well. It's not really a big deal...


Umm, Firefox is licensed under the Mozilla Public License, not the GPL.

http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 1

RE[4]: So much for freedom
by Finalzone on Fri 29th Sep 2006 04:14 in reply to "RE[3]: So much for freedom"
Finalzone Member since:
2005-07-06


Umm, Firefox is licensed under the Mozilla Public License, not the GPL.


From the same link:

This page details the licenses under which Mozilla source code can be obtained. All of the code which makes up the core Mozilla products is licensed under a MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license or a licence compatible with all three of those (e.g. the BSD licence). Other code in our repository may have different licensing terms.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 5