Question: Is NCPA license acceptable for homebrew-core?

[GunniBusch]

Hi,

I wanted to check this before putting time into a formula PR.

NCPA uses the Nagios Community Software License 1.3. I can see redistribution is allowed, but there also seem to be limits around forks/rebranding and use with competing/non-Nagios software.

Given that, is NCPA eligible for homebrew-core, or is a third-party tap the right place for it?

Thanks

[p-linnane]

No, there are multiple restrictions in that license that disqualify it. We only ship free software under an OSI approved license.

[GunniBusch]

thanks. was not so sure. but casks work?

[Bo98]

We do allow a bit more than just OSI (DFSG-compatible is a more accurate desciption of what we allow) but indeed a license that restricts forking or disallows using the software based on what other software is installed on your system cannot be seen as truly free and open source and so is ineligible as a homebrew-core formula.

Casks can however be closed source because we do not redistribute any binaries there and simply just download upstream binaries directly onto your system, unless some license disallows that but that's very rare.

[GunniBusch]

Thanks. but indeed, the licence is strange. First, it allows copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies and such, but then says you can’t fork it or use it independently. 😂