Yes, indeed, I’ve been annoyed that there isn’t a maintainer for the Debian port for a while. I will maintain the code based on the final pure-GPL version of the code, to avoid the entire licensing issue.
If Eric Youngdale could come out of the woodwork and retroactively add a “CDR tools, as a special GPL exception, can integrate CDDL licensed code” clause, that might allow us to use Schilling’s more recent code, but, to be safe, I prefer to work with the older codebase to keep the license simple.
> I will maintain the code based on the final pure-GPL version of the code, to avoid the entire licensing issue.
But that's what Debian did already with wodim/cdrkit much to Jörg's dismay. I don't think it received much development and afaik never got BluRay support.
If the copyright holder is dead, there is nothing to be afraid of in violating his license, surely...? At worst you could ask his heirs to add that exception.
Yes. In the 'reverts to copyright' view of GPL, the estate gets full rights and can proceed however they wish. Which, thanks to the Mouse Corporation, is a long time.
> Copyright protection generally lasts for 70 years after the death of the author. If the work was a "work for hire", then copyright persists for 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.
If Eric Youngdale could come out of the woodwork and retroactively add a “CDR tools, as a special GPL exception, can integrate CDDL licensed code” clause, that might allow us to use Schilling’s more recent code, but, to be safe, I prefer to work with the older codebase to keep the license simple.