[arch-dev-public] steam in our repos?

[Pierre Schmitz]

Am 15.11.2012 06:04, schrieb Daniel Wallace:
> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 05:56:57AM +0100, Pierre Schmitz wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I just noticed that steam was put into the multilib repo. It's
>> unfortunate that such questionable packages are brought into our repos
>> without any discussion (similar case are the catalyst drivers).
>>
>> My concern is it's license here. We modify and redistribute steam here
>> which is probably not allowed according to 1.B of steam's license. So
>> unless I am wrong here or there is a written permission from Valve
>> please remove this package asap.
>>
>> PS: It would be great if people would send a mail to this list before
>> they add random packages; especially if they don't have a free license.
>>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> Pierre
>>
>> --
>> Pierre Schmitz, https://pierre-schmitz.com
> 
> I read through the entire license.  It seemed ok to me but as I am not
> a lawyer I emailed them to request permission first to redistribute the
> package in community/multilib.
> 
> Only after contacting 2 people at Valve, both of whom told me that
> it would be ok to package and distribute steam, did I move it into the
> repositores

This is fine by me then. Would still be good to discuss such matters
beforehand in the future. Could you forward these mails to me so I can
post them on the private list? I do believe you, but in worst case it'll
be better if more than one person has access to such information. (afaik
we handled packages for the nvidia driver and adobe flash in a similar
way)

Maybe we should ask if they would make their license more clear. E.g. I
don't see how the following paragraph permits redistribution:

"You may not, in whole or in part: copy, photocopy, reproduce, 
translate, reverse engineer (with the exception of specific
circumstances 
where such act is permitted by law), derive source code, modify, 
disassemble, decompile, or create derivative works based on the
Program; 
remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Program; or attempt in
any 
manner to circumvent any security measures designed to control access
to 
the Program."

Greetings,

Pierre

-- 
Pierre Schmitz, https://pierre-schmitz.com