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Freedom Issue #674

[ruby] nonfree file in the source code

Anonymous - about 9 years ago - . Updated about 1 month ago.

Status:
fixed
Priority:
freedom issue
Assignee:
-
% Done:

100%


Description

The ext/json/generator/generator.c file from Ruby's source code contains this copyright notice:

/*
 * Copyright 2001-2004 Unicode, Inc.
 *
 * Disclaimer
 *
 * This source code is provided as is by Unicode, Inc. No claims are
 * made as to fitness for any particular purpose. No warranties of any
 * kind are expressed or implied. The recipient agrees to determine
 * applicability of information provided. If this file has been
 * purchased on magnetic or optical media from Unicode, Inc., the
 * sole remedy for any claim will be exchange of defective media
 * within 90 days of receipt.
 *
 * Limitations on Rights to Redistribute This Code
 *
 * Unicode, Inc. hereby grants the right to freely use the information
 * supplied in this file in the creation of products supporting the
 * Unicode Standard, and to make copies of this file in any form
 * for internal or external distribution as long as this notice
 * remains attached.
 */

I sent an email to FSF about this and they told me that the limitation of permissions to "the creation of products supporting the Unicode Standard" makes the code non-free.

I think I know how to fix it without breaking existing software written in Ruby so I'll try to prepare a patch.

History

#1

Updated by Anonymous about 9 years ago

I made the fix available at https://gitorious.org/niitotantei/abslibre.git, branch issue-#674.

This fix completely removes the C code handling JSON from Ruby. A free variant written in pure Ruby is packaged instead (actually both the C and Ruby code are part of the same gem). I made a few adjustments here and there so the existing software should work fine. The fix is a bit ugly though; I had to include a prepackaged gem in the repository because I don't quite know how to build it during Ruby build process. Anyway, I did a few tests and it looks like Ruby's functionality isn't affected by the fix.

#2

Updated by Anonymous about 9 years ago

  • Subject changed from [ruby] non-free file in the source code to [ruby] nonfree file in the source code
#3

Updated by Anonymous about 9 years ago

  • Assignee changed from Anonymous to Anonymous
  • Status changed from open to in progress

I'll blacklist it and add our libre version based on your version! :)

#4

Updated by Anonymous about 9 years ago

  • % Done changed from 0 to 100
  • Status changed from in progress to fixed
#5

Updated by lukeshu almost 7 years ago

Upstream bug in Ruby: https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/11844
Upstream bug in json gem: https://github.com/flori/json/issues/277

It seems that Unicode upstream has re-licensed everything to be DFSG (and thus FSDG) compatible, and we are now waiting on verification from the json gem devs that generator.c can be re-licensed.

#6

Updated by lukeshu about 1 month ago

I have filed an upstream PR to replace the non-free code with my own version: https://github.com/flori/json/pull/567

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