xfce4-weather-plugin: symbols & descriptions update

[Harald Judt]

Am 30.08.2012 13:19, schrieb Harald Judt:
> Am 29.08.2012 21:28, schrieb Colin Leroy:
>> On 29 August 2012 at 17h57, Harald Judt wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>>> So I have no answer, but perhaps the former devs (that's why this
>>> mail will additionally be sent to all people listed in AUTHORS) can
>>> shed a light on this? Where does the "liquid" theme originate from
>>> (weather.com)? And more important, what are its terms and conditions
>>> of usage?
>>
>> I have no idea either - as Harald says, these icons were already in
>> place when I took brief maintainership of the plugin...
>>
>> Can we suppose they're under the same license as the rest of code ?
>
> Some more thoughts on this:
>
> First, I'm not very acquainted with all that weather stuff, but it seems
> there are many icon sets out there that are trying to be compatible with
> the weather channel API. So just because it's compatible with that API
> doesn't mean it has to originate from weather.com. Besides, all original
> weather channel / intellicast icons I have seen clearly do not match the
> ones used by the weather plugin, and there is a video with all weather
> channel / intellicast icons before 2006 or so on youtube.
>
> Second, you can find similar icons on the web, but not identical ones.
> There is a "liquid" weather icon theme, but it has a noticably different
> style.
>
> Third, some icons have been composed from other icons previously. For
> example, commit
> git.xfce.org/panel-plugins/xfce4-weather-plugin/commit/?id=2044df04857a00ebb10ce4da23b093dc36b9df24.
> So if there was some license inhibiting this, someone would have had the
> chance to complain for a long time now.
>
> Fourth, maybe the GPL applies to the icons anyway, and there simply is
> no separate license file for the theme.
>
> Finally, let's elaborate about the risk someone complains. Having looked
> at various commercial and non-commercial products, I couldn't find any
> traces of the origin. The plugin is open-source, without any intention
> to make profit. It dates back to 2004, and the icons have been packaged
> and distributed with it many times. No one complained for 8 years, why
> would he now?
>
> So until someone proves the contrary, let's assume the icons are part of
> the plugin and the GPL applies to them too. Clarification from any
> previous dev would still be very welcome, though. 0.8.2 is ready for
> release, and I will not replace the existing icon set now, but maybe in
> the next version, just to be on the safe side.

Actually I believe these icons to come from a no longer existing web 
site called "liquidweather.net". Seems most of their icons have been 
under GPL, though with the resource gone, validation is not possible. I 
believe that the original author, Bob Schlärmann, did choose a GPL or 
free-to-use theme, though ;-)

http://www.atreidis.demon.nl/weatherplugin/

Time machine doesn't bring up anything unfortunately 
(http://archive.org/web/web.php).

Harald

-- 
`Experience is the best teacher.'