[erlang-questions] Non-free files in Erlang/OTP distribution?

[Sergei Golovan]

Hi!

I'm packaging Erlang/OTP for Debian GNU/Linux distribution. Today
there was a bugreport
(http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=405360) concerning a
license of some files, included in the Erlang/OTP distribution.

The suspicious files are

otp_src_R11B-2/lib/erl_interface/src/misc/eimd5.c
otp_src_R11B-2/lib/erl_interface/src/misc/eimd5.h
otp_src_R11B-2/erts/emulator/beam/erl_md5.c

They contain (modified) reference implementation of MD5 digest algorithm.

The included licence states:

 * License is also granted to make and use derivative works provided
  * that such works are identified as "derived from the RSA Data
 * Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm" in all material
 * mentioning or referencing the derived work.

The problem is that the license doesn't permit redistribution of
derived works explicitly. Therefore it is considered non-free.

Can you tell me, how do you interpret the license. Don't you think
that Erlang/OTP distribution can't contain these files, derived from
RSA code?

Best wishes!
-- 
Sergei Golovan