Ubuntu
gnome-software package

3rd party deb packages as being listed as "Proprietary" when opened

Asked by Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty

I've seen this with a few packages, including some of my own. When opened with GNOME Software, the license is shown as proprietary, even though the package is GPL.

Does anyone know why? Is this a bug, or a packaging mistake?

lsb_release -a:

"No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial"

uname -a:

"Linux hamish-VirtualBox 4.4.0-165-generic #193-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 17 17:42:52 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux"

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

What packages are you installing and where are you getting them from please?

Also, what is the output of:

lsb_release -a; uname -a

Thanks

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Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty (hamishmb) said : 		#2

Recently I noticed this with some of mine. Specifically, the one at https://launchpad.net/ddrescue-gui/2.x/2.0.2/+download/ddrescue-gui_2.0.2%7Exenial%7Eupdate1-0ubuntu1%7Eppa1_all.deb demonstrates this issue.

I've seen this on multiple platforms, but for this question I'm looking at an Ubuntu 16.04 VM.

lsb_release -a:

"No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial"

uname -a:

"Linux hamish-VirtualBox 4.4.0-165-generic #193-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 17 17:42:52 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux"

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty (hamishmb) said : 		#3

Looks like I made a mistake. I took a second look, and while I'm sure this happened in Ubuntu 16.04 before, I now only seem to be able to make it work with Ubuntu 18.04 and 19.04 (haven't tested 19.10).

This happens with my packages at www.hamishmb.com, and the VirtualBox packages at www.virtualbox.org.

How does a package signal to GNOME Software/Ubuntu Software that it isn't proprietary? It seems the default is to assume a package is proprietary.

Revision history for this message
Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty (hamishmb) said : 		#4

Looks like I made a mistake. I took a second look, and while I'm sure this happened in Ubuntu 16.04 before, I now only seem to be able to make it work with Ubuntu 18.04 and 19.04 (haven't tested 19.10).

This happens with my packages at www.hamishmb.com, and the VirtualBox packages at www.virtualbox.org.

How does a package signal to GNOME Software/Ubuntu Software that it isn't proprietary? It seems the default is to assume a package is proprietary.

This even happens with lshw (random package I picked) for Ubuntu 19.04 from https://packages.ubuntu.com/disco/lshw, when you open the .deb package with Ubuntu Software.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#5

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.