[tex-live] ICC profiles for PDF/A compliance

Peter Selinger selinger at mathstat.dal.ca
Fri Sep 7 02:27:03 CEST 2018


Hi Ross,

when I added the files sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black_scaled.icc and
coated_FOGRA39L_argl.icc to the pdfx package in 2015, they came with
the following respective licenses, which are included in the package
(in the file ICC_LICENSE.txt):

----------------------------------------------------------------------
For the file sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black_scaled.icc:

 Copyright International Color Consortium, 2009

 It is hereby acknowledged that the file "sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black
 scaled.icc" is provided "AS IS" WITH NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY.

 Licensing

 This profile is made available by the International Color Consortium,
 and may be copied, distributed, embedded, made, used, and sold without
 restriction. Altered versions of this profile shall have the original
 identification and copyright information removed and shall not be
 misrepresented as the original profile.

 Terms of use

 To anyone who acknowledges that the file "sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black
 scaled.icc" is provided "AS IS" WITH NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY,
 permission to use, copy and distribute these file for any purpose is
 hereby granted without fee, provided that the file is not changed
 including the ICC copyright notice tag, and that the name of ICC shall
 not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of
 the software without specific, written prior permission. ICC makes no
 representations about the suitability of this software for any
 purpose. 

For the file coated_FOGRA39L_argl.icc:

 The zlib/libpng License

 Copyright (c) 2008 Kai-Uwe Behrmann

 This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
 warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
 arising from the use of this software.

 Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
 including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute
 it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

    1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you
    must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use
    this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product
    documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

    2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and
    must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

    3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source
    distribution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know on what basis someone now claims to have determined that
sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black_scaled.icc is "not free". The license above is
the one that came with the file when I downloaded it from the
International Color Consortium's website, and it is explicitly
included in the package so the Debian developer should have seen
it. Such licenses are not revocable, so the file is free.

-- Peter

Ross Moore wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi Karl, Norbert, Peter,
> 
> On 7 Sep 2018, at 7:19 am, Karl Berry <karl at freefriends.org<mailto:karl at freefriends.org>> wrote:
> 
> sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black_scaled.icc is non-free and should be removed
> from TeX Live.
> 
> Ok, done. (I wonder if http://argyllcms.com/<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/-HlJClx1OYUo9g8quqbkbq?domain=argyllcms.com> has any other free profiles.)
> 
> https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=786946<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/GQANCmO5wZs50E3LcQH9Vl?domain=bugs.debian.org>
>> 
> This page says that the ICC profiles *are* free.
> 
> Debian Bug report logs - #786946
> lintian: false positive: icc-profiles *are* free
> 
> But that was back in 2015; then you were arguing that they are free.
> 
> 
> and the final clarification of the license in 2017.
> 
> OK. There is a single-line statement saying:   "not free"
> without any explanation of why Debian has determined this.
> 
> 
> I guess at http://www.color.org/srgbprofiles.xalter<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/l0kuCnx1Z5UGyM2psEdNnH?domain=color.org>,
> which says the file may not be changed.
> 
> It is not changed, so far as I’m aware;
>  pdfTeX  just includes the binary file verbatim.
> Not sure about XeTeX and LuaTeX, but I cannot imagine why
> they would change anything about it.
> 
> 
> 
> We should inform Ross that he removes/replaces the files in [pdfx]
> 
> .. and update the code and doc, which now use the sRGB profile.
> Cc-ing Ross.
> 
> If this is going to stop Debian from distributing TeXLive, then I suppose
> we should change the profile.
> 
> Can we switch to:    sRGB2014.icc   from
>    http://www.color.org/srgbprofiles.xalter  ?
> Or will that be subject to the same objection?
> 
> What about the updated v4 profiles, on that same page?
> 
>          sRGB_v4_ICC_preference.icc
>          sRGB_v4_ICC_preference_displayclass.icc
> 
> Their licensing seems to be a bit more liberal than before;
> viz.    from   http://www.color.org/profiles2.xalter#license
> 
> Licensing
> 
> The copyright owner and terms of use of an ICC profile are normally identified in the Creator field in the profile header and in the Copyright tag. Where ICC is the copyright owner, the following license terms apply:
> 
> "This profile is made available by the International Color Consortium, and may be copied, distributed, embedded, made, used, and sold without restriction. Altered versions of this profile shall have the original identification and copyright information removed and shall not be misrepresented as the original profile."
> 
> ICC recommends that other profile creators and copyright owners adopt a similar wording for profiles that are intended to be freely distributed. See the Profile Registration page for more details.
> 
> 
> On the other hand,  sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black_scaled.icc
> is still available at    http://www.color.org/black_scaled_2009_srgb.xalter
> where it says:
> 
> Legacy v2 sRGB profile
> 
> This sRGB profile has been superseded by the sRGB2014.icc profile, following a 2014 corrigendum to IEC 61966. This previous version of the profile is made available for those who need it for compatibility with existing workflows.
> Note that this version of the profile has different licensing terms from the standard ICC profile license
> 
> License
> 
> To anyone who acknowledges that the file "sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_no_black_scaling.icc" is provided "AS IS" WITH NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, permission to use, copy and distribute these file for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the file is not changed including the ICC copyright notice tag, and that the name of ICC shall not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. ICC makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose.
> 
> 
> So it would seem:
>      sRGB2014.icc    is free
>      sRGB_IEC61966-2-1_black_scaled.icc   is not free.
> 
> Agreed?
> 
> 
> And what about the CMYK profile?      coated_FOGRA39L_argl.icc
> Has an objection to this ever been raised?
> 
> That file is no longer available at:    http://www.color.org/registry/index.xalter
> which is where we got it from, I think.
> The licensing on the files available there now says things like:
> 
> Profile Name: PSOuncoated_v3_FOGRA52.icc
> 
> Profile Provider: European Color Initiative (ECI)
> 
> Contact: Florian Suessl
> 
> Copyright:  Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
> 
> License: This profile is made available by ECI European Color Initiative, with permission of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, and may be used, embedded and exchanged without restriction. It may not be distributed, sold or altered without written permission of ECI European Color Initiative. Color Toolbox 17.0.0 - (c) Copyright 2015 Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. All Rights Reserved.
> 
> So these would be classed as “not free” right?
> Is it reasonable for TeXLive to request permission to distribute
> from some of these places:  ECI, IDEAlliance, VIGC, … ?
> But if granted, would Debian be able to re-distribute?
> 
> 
> 
> I hope the gs profiles are free. -k
> 
> Please clarify, and give a clear reason why you think there is a violation
> by including these files.
> 
> 
> Alternatively, there is this site:
> 
>     https://sourceforge.net/projects/openicc/files/OpenICC-Profiles/
> 
> Worth investigating?
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Ross


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