[Qgis-psc] PSC Meeting March

Tue Mar 17 11:55:13 PDT 2020

already doing

On Tue, 17 Mar 2020, 19:54 Andreas Neumann, <a.neumann at carto.net> wrote:

> Hi Marco,
>
> Can you please create a new PSC document and post the meeting link there?
>
> Otherwise I don't know how to join the meeting.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andreas
> Am 17.03.20 um 19:50 schrieb Marco Bernasocchi:
>
> hi yes we'll meet.
> see you then
>
> On Tue, 17 Mar 2020, 19:34 Anita Graser, <anitagraser at gmx.at> wrote:
>
>> Hi Marco,
>>
>> As co-chair, could you please let us know if we should meet in half an
>> hour?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Anita
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 2:08 PM Andreas Neumann <andreas at qgis.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Paolo - can you comment if you can participate tonight? Did you mix up
>>> the dates or did you really mean the 20th (Friday)?
>>>
>>> Greetings,
>>> Andreas
>>>
>>> On Tue, 17 Mar 2020 at 12:11, Anita Graser <anitagraser at gmx.at> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm available but Paolo wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "I agree a meeting would be useful. Things are quite unstable here due
>>>> to
>>>> COVID-19, but I *should* be able to join in the late afternoon or
>>>> evening of 20th.  "
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Anita
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 11:47 AM Tim Sutton <tim at kartoza.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Reposting as list message was rejected due to size:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you so much for your email @Vincent. Personally I have read your
>>>>> email below and numerous articles online about it and there is still, in my
>>>>> mind, room for posting a GPL app on the apple store - there just needs to
>>>>> be a clear path to fetch the binaries so that you can install it on your
>>>>> other systems (i.e. the contention mainly relates to the third freedom).
>>>>> This could be done in the application itself with a link somewhere to
>>>>> download the package files and notes on how to install it (which to be fair
>>>>> may be a convoluted process on some operating systems).
>>>>>
>>>>> However, in acknowledgement that there is probably never going to be
>>>>> general agreement on this, and the only conclusive way to deal with it is
>>>>> to modify our license to add an exemption for distribution via app stores
>>>>> (I would propose a general exemption rather then mentioning any specific
>>>>> one), I have contacted Saber off-list and asked him to remove the link to
>>>>> INPUT on our web site. I did this along with a deep sense of shame that we
>>>>> cannot acknowledge the hard work of long term contributors to QGIS - in
>>>>> particular Martin has been a contributor to QGIS since the very early days
>>>>> of the project.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://github.com/qgis/QGIS-Website/pull/735
>>>>>
>>>>> The assessment of the situation below may be right, but IMHO the
>>>>> situation itself is wrong - we should not be held hostage by our own
>>>>> license. Our license choice was intended to ensure that QGIS can be a GIS
>>>>> that everyone can use, and we should be actively taking it to every
>>>>> platform that is in popular use. Thus I would like to raise the proposal
>>>>> that we assemble a list of everyone who has made a contribution to the QGIS
>>>>> code base, and at very least, run a poll to see how many would be amenable
>>>>> to a modification of the license. From the poll results we will be able to
>>>>> see 1) are 100% of the authors contactable and 2) what % of the codebase
>>>>> currently under GPL could not be relicensed.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards
>>>>>
>>>>> Tim
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 16 Mar 2020, at 13:06, Vincent Picavet (ml) <
>>>>> vincent.ml at oslandia.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> I re-state here what I already said on the GitHub issue ( ) concerning
>>>>> a
>>>>> distribution of GPL-licenced software on App Store endorsed by
>>>>> QGIS.org <http://qgis.org/>.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am worried that this could lead to legal troubles. There are clear
>>>>> issues with
>>>>> providing GPL applications on apple store. While having an app
>>>>> supporting iOS
>>>>> could be ok, distribution through the Apple app store makes the user
>>>>> have to
>>>>> accept iOS terms of use, which are not compatible with the licence of
>>>>> the software.
>>>>>
>>>>> While publishing GPL software on iOS is the issue of the software
>>>>> provider /
>>>>> publisher, linking it from qgis.org website would be an endorsement,
>>>>> and would
>>>>> lead to legal risk.
>>>>>
>>>>> I would personally be against it, and it should indeed be an official
>>>>> PSC
>>>>> decision, having taken into account all related risks, preferably
>>>>> after seeking
>>>>> official legal advice from an opensource IP expert lawyer.
>>>>>
>>>>> I copy hereafter the report of our IP lawyer, who we consulted when we
>>>>> had this
>>>>> question a while ago (on a different GPL software) :
>>>>>
>>>>> -----
>>>>> Concerning publishing a GNU GPL application on App Store
>>>>>
>>>>> Distributing software on Apple App Store is likely to contrain the
>>>>> user to
>>>>> accept General Usage Conditions s a-priori not compatible with the GNU
>>>>> GPL
>>>>> Licence v3.0 or later. As a matter of fact, AppStore TOS -- which
>>>>> users as well
>>>>> as developers must accept -- constrain the usage
>>>>> that can be done with the software, which is contradictory to the GNU
>>>>> GPL v3 or
>>>>> later. The latter forbids to apply such usage restrictions when
>>>>> distributing a
>>>>> software under its terms.
>>>>>
>>>>> Such a difficulty also applies to the distribution of a version of
>>>>> software X on
>>>>> AppStore including Z ( licenced as GPL ). It is on this basis that the
>>>>> application VLC has been initially removed from Appstore, before being
>>>>> re-introduced under a new licence conform ( double licence
>>>>> Mozilla Public Licence 2.0 and GNU GPL v3.0).
>>>>>
>>>>> Therefore, such a distribution would be possible under appstore only
>>>>> if its
>>>>> licence is modified according to this choice.
>>>>>
>>>>> Article 10 of GNU GPL 3.0 : « You may not impose any further
>>>>> restrictions on the
>>>>> exercise of the rights granted or affirmed under this License. For
>>>>> example, you
>>>>> may not impose a license fee, royalty, or other charge for exercise of
>>>>> rights
>>>>> granted under this License, and you
>>>>> may not initiate litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim
>>>>> in a
>>>>> lawsuit) alleging that any patent claim is infringed by making, using,
>>>>> selling,
>>>>> offering for sale, or importing the Program or any portion of it. »
>>>>> ----
>>>>>
>>>>> As for changing the QGIS licence to add an exception for app store, or
>>>>> any other
>>>>> specific use, it would indeed require every single QGIS contributor to
>>>>> agree. I
>>>>> clearly cannot see this happening, given our large contributor base
>>>>> and a clear
>>>>> opposition to any licence change from at least a few of them.
>>>>>
>>>>> Strictly conforming with legal requirement of our licence choices is
>>>>> vital for
>>>>> the project and QGIS.org <http://qgis.org/> credibility. If we want
>>>>> our users to respect the GPL
>>>>> licence which is the basis for all QGIS work, and share their
>>>>> modifications
>>>>> back, we cannot compromise on legal aspects, even if it is a burden
>>>>> for the user.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is sad, but "real world people do not respect licences" is not
>>>>> really an
>>>>> argument.
>>>>>
>>>>> Should any external organization make the choice to compromise with
>>>>> legal terms
>>>>> and licences, it is their own responsibility, and I personaly do not
>>>>> care as
>>>>> soon as there is no impact on the QGIS project and QGIS organization.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>> Vincent
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> —
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> *Tim Sutton*
>>>>>
>>>>> *Co-founder:* Kartoza
>>>>> *Ex Project chair:* QGIS.org
>>>>>
>>>>> Visit http://kartoza.com to find out about open source:
>>>>>
>>>>> Desktop GIS programming services
>>>>> Geospatial web development
>>>>> GIS Training
>>>>> Consulting Services
>>>>>
>>>>> *Skype*: timlinux
>>>>> *IRC:* timlinux on #qgis at freenode.net
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd love to connect. Here's my calendar link
>>>>> <https://calendly.com/timlinux> to make finding time easy.
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Qgis-psc mailing list
>>>>> Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org
>>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Qgis-psc mailing list
>>>> Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> --
>>> Andreas Neumann
>>> QGIS.ORG board member (treasurer)
>>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
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