From owner-freebsd-ports  Fri Nov  8 14:57:10 1996
Return-Path: owner-ports
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id OAA15945
          for ports-outgoing; Fri, 8 Nov 1996 14:57:10 -0800 (PST)
Received: from Octopussy.MI.Uni-Koeln.DE (Octopussy.MI.Uni-Koeln.DE [134.95.166.20])
          by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id OAA15916;
          Fri, 8 Nov 1996 14:56:50 -0800 (PST)
Received: from x14.mi.uni-koeln.de (annexr2-47.slip.Uni-Koeln.DE) by Octopussy.MI.Uni-Koeln.DE with SMTP id AA28341
  (5.67b/IDA-1.5); Fri, 8 Nov 1996 23:55:25 +0100
Received: (from se@localhost) by x14.mi.uni-koeln.de (8.8.2/8.6.9) id XAA05048; Fri, 8 Nov 1996 23:55:26 +0100 (MET)
Message-Id: <199611082255.XAA05048@x14.mi.uni-koeln.de>
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 23:55:25 +0100
From: se@zpr.uni-koeln.de (Stefan Esser)
To: andreas@klemm.gtn.com (Andreas Klemm)
Cc: torstenb@solar.tlk.com (Torsten Blum), fenner@parc.xerox.com,
        se@freebsd.org, jkh@freebsd.org, ports@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Need "a" ghostscript
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.95.961108214537.1098A-100000@klemm.gtn.com>; from Andreas Klemm on Nov 8, 1996 21:57:48 +0100
References: <Pine.BSF.3.95.961108214537.1098A-100000@klemm.gtn.com>
X-Mailer: Mutt 0.45
Mime-Version: 1.0
Sender: owner-ports@freebsd.org
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

Andreas Klemm writes:
> On Fri, 8 Nov 1996, Torsten Blum wrote:
> 
> > Andreas Klemm wrote:
> > 
> > > I think we could remove ghostscript 2.6.2 and 3.x port. gs4 seems
> > > pretty stable. No need to keep several versions like with tcl/tk.
> > > 
> > > Does somebody have something against removal of gs2 and gs3 port ?!
> > 
> > gs2 has a different licence than gs3 and gs4.
> > (gs4 restricts commercial redistribution).
> > We should keep at least gs2 (IMHO)
> 
> If we have multiple gs versions around, we should perhaps call one 
> gs and the others gs<Version> ...
> 
> Since gs 2 is at least less restrictive as the others, gs 2 might
> become 'gs' and the others gs3 and gs4.

The situation is more complex: There is a 6 month delay, before
each new version of Ghostscript is released under GPL. Until then, 
the program may be freely distributed and used for non-commercial
purposes.

There is a GPL version of Ghostscript 3, but it did never get the 
full set of features and bug fixes that wend into the latest non-GPL
Ghostscript 3. But it should still be a better base then the version
2, which was only distributed under GPL, IIRC.

So I'd opt for making the latest GNU Ghostscript 3.xx the base, 
and to have Alladin Ghsotscript 4.xx for those, that conform to
the licenzing terms ...

Regards, STefan