[tex-live] urw font license

Lukas Petrlik luki@kiv.zcu.cz
Thu, 6 Dec 2001 11:08:23 +0100 (CET)


Hello,

I just installed the TeX Live 6 CD on my system and found that the URW
Type 1 fonts (texmf/fonts/type1/urw) are covered by the non-free
"Aladdin Free Public License". The same fonts are also available with a
more permissive license, the "GNU General Public License".

The main problem with the Aladdin license is its paragraph 2.(a) which
prohibits redistribution "if any payment is made in connection with
such distribution" including "payment for some service related to the
Program". For example, the act of re-distributing the CD TeX Live by a
commercial entity may be viewed as a violation of the Aladdin license.

This problem does not arise with the GPL-covered alternative, which is
available at:

   ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ghostscript/gnu-gs-fonts-std-6.0.tar.gz
   ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ghostscript/gnu-gs-fonts-other-6.0.tar.gz

I hope to see them on the next edition of TeX live. :-)

BTW it would be nice to have all font licences in a readme; the type 1 font
licences are collected in the old package

   ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ghostscript/ghostscript-fonts-std-5.10.tar.gz

Sincerely
-- 
Lukas Petrlik  <luki@kiv.zcu.cz>