[ruby-core:74366] [Ruby trunk Bug#11844] Please update unicode-licensed files (license issue)

[duerst@it.aoyama.ac.jp]

Issue #11844 has been updated by Martin Dürst.

Assignee set to Yui NARUSE

We have looked at this issue at today's developers' meeting

Christian Hofstaedtler wrote:
> The non-free problem is with this line: "supplied in this file in the creation of products supporting the Unicode Standard" - which implies that you can't use this file to produce stuff not supporting / not complying with "the Unicode Standard" (which itself may change at any time). (This is a problem for redistributors that may opt to use the GPL for Ruby and also causes DFSG issues.)

Ok. We understand that it's not a problem for Ruby itself, but for redistributors. But we of course want to help redistributors if we can.

> That's one of the reasons the Unicode default copyright text has changed multiple times in the past (current version: http://unicode.org/copyright.html). But it's not clear if the new copyright applies to files carrying the old header. Given that Unicode, Inc has made available (some) new files, with the exact same data, but with the new copyright info, it's being assumed that one can't just take the old files and slap the new header onto them.

Looking at the actual text in the copyright file, it says:
"""
EXHIBIT 1
UNICODE, INC. LICENSE AGREEMENT - DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE

Unicode Data Files include all data files under the directories http://www.unicode.org/Public/, http://www.unicode.org/reports/, and http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/. Unicode Data Files do not include PDF online code charts under the directory http://www.unicode.org/Public/."
"""

The files concerned are under http://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/, so the new copyright applies. Also, we noted that the actual files have been updated to mention the change to the copyright in the file itself. So we plan to appropriately change the files on our side, too.

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Bug #11844: Please update unicode-licensed files (license issue)
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/11844#change-57485

* Author: Christian Hofstaedtler
* Status: Feedback
* Priority: Normal
* Assignee: Yui NARUSE
* ruby -v: 2.2.3
* Backport: 2.0.0: UNKNOWN, 2.1: UNKNOWN, 2.2: UNKNOWN
----------------------------------------
Various files in enc/trans are old copies of Unicode.org files that forbid (re-)distribution. AFAICT, Unicode, Inc. has published newer versions of these files to fix this issue.
New versions could possibly be found on http://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/OBSOLETE/EASTASIA/JIS/ and elsewhere under http://www.unicode.org/Public/

ext/json/generator/generator.c also has a restrictive Unicode, Inc. license blurb. Please fix this as well.




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