While Skim certainly is free software, it uses system libraries. One of the system libraries it uses is Apple's PDFKit, which it uses to render PDFs. To the best of my knowledge, PDFKit is a proprietary library, so I don't think Skim suits the purposes of your site.
I searched for it, but I couldnt find out under which license pdfkit is available. Maybe someone with OSX can check the headers...
Altogether we do have a problem now. Can we accept non-free dependencies? What about any program built with cocoa / quartz? AFAIK both are non-free... what about programs requiring .NET?
Hannes
Am Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009 23:08:07 schrieb Jon Rosebaugh:
While Skim certainly is free software, it uses system libraries. One of the system libraries it uses is Apple's PDFKit, which it uses to render PDFs. To the best of my knowledge, PDFKit is a proprietary library, so I don't think Skim suits the purposes of your site. _______________________________________________ Pdfreaders mailing list Pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/pdfreaders
On Wednesday 04 February 2009 02:01:51 Hannes Hauswedell wrote:
I searched for it, but I couldnt find out under which license pdfkit is available. Maybe someone with OSX can check the headers...
Altogether we do have a problem now. Can we accept non-free dependencies? What about any program built with cocoa / quartz? AFAIK both are non-free... what about programs requiring .NET?
Isn't MacOSx also a dependecy of Skim? And for that matter, Windows of Sumatra? As long as what we point people to doesn't contain any proprietary elements themselves I don't think it should be a problem.
all the best, /Stian
Am Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009 23:08:07 schrieb Jon Rosebaugh:
While Skim certainly is free software, it uses system libraries. One of the system libraries it uses is Apple's PDFKit, which it uses to render PDFs. To the best of my knowledge, PDFKit is a proprietary library, so I don't think Skim suits the purposes of your site. _______________________________________________ Pdfreaders mailing list Pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/pdfreaders
Pdfreaders mailing list Pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/pdfreaders
Am Freitag, 6. Februar 2009 14:03:32 schrieb Stian Rødven Eide:
On Wednesday 04 February 2009 02:01:51 Hannes Hauswedell wrote:
I searched for it, but I couldnt find out under which license pdfkit is available. Maybe someone with OSX can check the headers...
Altogether we do have a problem now. Can we accept non-free dependencies? What about any program built with cocoa / quartz? AFAIK both are non-free... what about programs requiring .NET?
Isn't MacOSx also a dependecy of Skim? And for that matter, Windows of Sumatra? As long as what we point people to doesn't contain any proprietary elements themselves I don't think it should be a problem.
Hm, now this is an interesting, but serious problem. I can write a piece of MIT-licensed Software, have it download adobe in the background on first start and use Adobe's Firefox-Plugin for rendering PDF. This would qualify as "Free" under our current definition.
I really think someone should try to find out how PDFKit is licensed.
Maybe referring to the GPL's definition of system libraries/major component is a possible way to go: The “System Libraries” of an executable work include anything, other than the work as a whole, that (a) is included in the normal form of packaging a Major Component, but which is not part of that Major Component, and (b) serves only to enable use of the work with that Major Component, or to implement a Standard Interface for which an implementation is available to the public in source code form. A “Major Component”, in this context, means a major essential component (kernel, window system, and so on) of the specific operating system (if any) on which the executable work runs, or a compiler used to produce the work, or an object code interpreter used to run it.
Obviously window manager, toolkit and the like are covered by this, PDF- rendering libraries not.
Please, also consider this as "I don't agree with the proposed policy of accepting any proprietary dependencies".
Regards, Hannes
CC to Georg, because the policy went to him as well.
all the best, /Stian
Am Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009 23:08:07 schrieb Jon Rosebaugh:
While Skim certainly is free software, it uses system libraries. One of the system libraries it uses is Apple's PDFKit, which it uses to render PDFs. To the best of my knowledge, PDFKit is a proprietary library, so I don't think Skim suits the purposes of your site. _______________________________________________ Pdfreaders mailing list Pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/pdfreaders
Pdfreaders mailing list Pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/pdfreaders
Pdfreaders mailing list Pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/pdfreaders
Hi guys.
Hannes Hauswedell schrieb:
I really think someone should try to find out how PDFKit is licensed.
Seems that PDFKit is unfree:
www.webappz.com/downloads/PDFkitRegFormAndLicense.pdf
But this document is not from apple.com or something like this.
When you want to download PDFKit you need an account.
Henner
Am Samstag, 7. Februar 2009 16:33:31 schrieb HennR:
Hi guys.
Hannes Hauswedell schrieb:
I really think someone should try to find out how PDFKit is licensed.
Seems that PDFKit is unfree:
www.webappz.com/downloads/PDFkitRegFormAndLicense.pdf
But this document is not from apple.com or something like this.
When you want to download PDFKit you need an account.
AFAICT thats a different piece of software. pdfkit is shipped with every OSX. developer.apple.com has documentation on using it, but apperently no license information.
Maybe would should write to the Skim-developers and ask for clarification.
Anybody with a running OSX could also look into the header-files which probably do include license information...
- Hannes
Henner _______________________________________________ Pdfreaders mailing list Pdfreaders@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/pdfreaders