[ gpsdrive ] gpsfetchmap

[Andreas Putzo]

Hi,

Am 26.9.2007 schrieb "Joerg Ostertag" <gpsdrive at ostertag.name>:

>Am Mittwoch, 26. September 2007 03:42:10 schrieb Hamish:
>> > Andreas Putzo:
>> > > i noticed that the header of gpsfetchmap.pl changed from the last
>> > >
>> > > release. It now states:
>> > > | #!/usr/bin/perl
>> > > | # gpsfetchmap
>> > > | #
>> > > | # You are allowed to modify the source code in any way you want
>> > > | # except you cannot modify this copyright details
>> > > | # or remove the polite feature.
>> > > | #
>> > > | # NO WARRANTY.
>>
>> Joerg Ostertag wrote:
>> > This restriction was introduced to reduce the chance of getting in
>> > trouble with any of the map providers. But in then long term we hopefully
>> > won't need to support any restricted map-provider with gpsfetchmap any
>> > more.
>>
>> That will surely fail the Debian Free Software Guidelines test. (cc'ing
>> DebianGIS for a more authoritative answer)
>
>If we find a good other solution we can change this part of the license.

Note that *writing* the script cannot violate the terms of use of the map
providers, only *using* the script.
I think that the usual 'no warranty' disclaimer should be sufficiant to
protect you.
But then again, map providers can sue everybody even if it's unlikely
that they get through with it.

> But
>maybe it would be a better solution to split up gpsfetchmap.pl and have the
>url-calculation for the restricted map-services in a seperate module. This
>module will have the more restricted licence terms and will not be shipped
>with the debian Package. As already said, I think in the long term we won't
>need these downloads anyhow.
>
>> I would guess the "you may not
>> remove the polite feature" license term in practice wouldn't help any with
>> regard to upsetting map server owners with bulk downloads; they are already
>> mad by the time they see that, if they see that. It would be better to just
>> ensure that the default is set to polite mode, maybe even hardcode it to
>> require the user to do an obvious minor edit in the script to disable it.

It's already on by default (set to 1 sec).

>Sounds reasonable. So as for a first action, let's hardcode some kind of lower
>limt. And hope that 90% of the users will either respect this or will not
>have the ability to change it.

Cheers,
Andreas