Bug 1634 - fatback, a program for recovering files from FAT file systems.
Summary: fatback, a program for recovering files from FAT file systems.
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Mageia
Classification: Unclassified
Component: New RPM package request (show other bugs)
Version: Cauldron
Hardware: All Linux
Priority: Normal enhancement
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Barry Jackson
QA Contact:
URL: http://sourceforge.net/projects/fatback/
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: 772
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2011-06-06 14:04 CEST by Magnus Rasche
Modified: 2012-08-26 20:52 CEST (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Source RPM: fatback
CVE:
Status comment:


Attachments

Description Magnus Rasche 2011-06-06 14:04:00 CEST
Description of problem:

A program for recovering files from FAT file systems.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/fatback/


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:


Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.
Magnus Rasche 2011-06-06 20:46:18 CEST

Blocks: (none) => 772

Marja Van Waes 2011-10-19 15:58:41 CEST

URL: (none) => http://sourceforge.net/projects/fatback/
CC: (none) => marja11
Summary: missing package: fatback => fatback, a program for recovering files from FAT file systems.

Comment 1 Marja Van Waes 2011-11-14 20:49:33 CET
set version to cauldron, because package requests will usually be done for cauldron first and then be available in next stable release

Version: 1 => Cauldron
Source RPM: (none) => fatback

Comment 2 Barry Jackson 2012-01-10 21:40:38 CET
I'll take a look at this unless someone is working on it?

CC: (none) => zen25000
Assignee: bugsquad => zen25000

Comment 3 Barry Jackson 2012-03-02 00:32:26 CET
An update on this.
The license is Public Domain but I have emailed the author, due to a sentence in the manual.
It has now been several weeks with no response.

The offending sentence in the manual overview is:-

"Fatback was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense Computer Forensics Laboratory (http://www.dcfl.gov) and is authorized for government and law enforcement use only."

The link is dead.

I have the package ready, but do not want to submit it without agreement from Mageia sysadmins.
Comment 4 Barry Jackson 2012-03-02 01:39:10 CET
The source is now in svn and I have made the x86_64 and i586 mga2 rpms available temporarily below for anyone wishing to install and test and/or read the manual which is available in HTML format from the main menu under Documentation -> Fatback Manual.
http://mtf.no-ip.co.uk/fatback-1.3-1.mga2.x86_64.rpm
http://mtf.no-ip.co.uk/fatback-1.3-1.mga2.i586.rpm
(60kB each)
Comment 5 Manuel Hiebel 2012-08-20 22:15:05 CEST
>The offending sentence in the manual overview is:-
this also mean that the project is not very maintained.

Adding sysadmin as requested by barry for:
>I have the package ready, but do not want to submit it without agreement from
>Mageia sysadmins.

CC: (none) => sysadmin-bugs

Comment 6 Marja Van Waes 2012-08-20 22:32:50 CEST
There is a bug about the licence

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=1906997&group_id=115773&atid=738816

Doesn't look good :(
Comment 7 Barry Jackson 2012-08-20 23:26:08 CEST
(In reply to comment #5)
> >The offending sentence in the manual overview is:-
> this also mean that the project is not very maintained.
> 
> Adding sysadmin as requested by barry for:
> >I have the package ready, but do not want to submit it without agreement from
> >Mageia sysadmins.

I just had a mid air collision with Manuel - I was just closing as wontfix in view of the license and the apparently dead project.

Everyone agreed?
Barry Jackson 2012-08-20 23:30:32 CEST

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => WONTFIX

Comment 8 Dave Hodgins 2012-08-22 22:56:18 CEST
(In reply to comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #5)
> > >The offending sentence in the manual overview is:-
> > this also mean that the project is not very maintained.
> > 
> > Adding sysadmin as requested by barry for:
> > >I have the package ready, but do not want to submit it without agreement from
> > >Mageia sysadmins.
> 
> I just had a mid air collision with Manuel - I was just closing as wontfix in
> view of the license and the apparently dead project.
> 
> Everyone agreed?

Maybe not.

http://www.mail-archive.com/fink-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg09492.html

CC: (none) => davidwhodgins

Comment 9 Barry Jackson 2012-08-24 23:37:17 CEST
Hmm..

Still dead though - version 1.3 is all that is available in SF - yet the emails talk of 1.4 with apparently updated license info.

This seems to have been sent directly to the fink packager 8 years ago!
http://www.mail-archive.com/fink-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg09539.html

I have emailed the fink packager who received it just in case he still has that copy. (and that email address :\ )
Comment 10 Dave Hodgins 2012-08-25 01:01:24 CEST
(In reply to comment #9)
> Hmm..
> 
> Still dead though - version 1.3 is all that is available in SF - yet the emails
> talk of 1.4 with apparently updated license info.
> 
> This seems to have been sent directly to the fink packager 8 years ago!
> http://www.mail-archive.com/fink-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg09539.html
> 
> I have emailed the fink packager who received it just in case he still has that
> copy. (and that email address :\ )

I doubt there have been any changes to the fat filesystem layout in the
last 8 years too, so if it works, it shouldn't need any changes.
Comment 11 Barry Jackson 2012-08-25 11:38:07 CEST
My mail bounced - where to now?
Comment 12 Barry Jackson 2012-08-26 00:20:35 CEST
I found an email address for the fink packager who received it but that bounced too.

We can either leave it alone or submit what we have.

Any more thoughts anyone?
Comment 13 Marja Van Waes 2012-08-26 08:48:22 CEST
Magnus told me it is in the caine-live distro

http://www.caine-live.net/page11/page11.html

(the progams they have aren't very well listed alphabetically, but you can see fatback if you scroll down)

maybe they can give good information?
Comment 14 Dave Hodgins 2012-08-26 11:39:30 CEST
Given the sourceforge lists it as gpl, and the email from their
archive indicates that this is correct, I think it's safe to
ignore the comments in the file.
Comment 15 Barry Jackson 2012-08-26 13:23:16 CEST
(In reply to comment #14)
> Given the sourceforge lists it as gpl, and the email from their
> archive indicates that this is correct, I think it's safe to
> ignore the comments in the file.

I agree, however I have tried to contact the author again via the SourceForge internal mail system in the hope that he is still registered. One of his projects saw some activity as recently as 2010.

I am thinking of adding a README.Mageia to the package to explain the licence issue, do you think this is a good idea? If so any thoughts on content? ;)
Comment 16 Dave Hodgins 2012-08-26 14:17:00 CEST
I'd put in something like the following ...

After noticing the comments in COPYING and fatback-manual.info files,
which indicate the program is not covered by the GPL, Mageia attempted
to contact the author to clarify the license.

While were we unable to contact the author, we did find a message
from the author,
http://www.mail-archive.com/fink-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg09539.html
which we clearly states the program is released under the GPL.
===============================================================

Alternatively, patch the files to remove the comments.
Comment 17 Barry Jackson 2012-08-26 20:52:42 CEST
(In reply to comment #16)
> I'd put in something like the following ...
> 
> After noticing the comments in COPYING and fatback-manual.info files,
> which indicate the program is not covered by the GPL, Mageia attempted
> to contact the author to clarify the license.
> 
> While were we unable to contact the author, we did find a message
> from the author,
> http://www.mail-archive.com/fink-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg09539.html
> which we clearly states the program is released under the GPL.
> ===============================================================
> 
> Alternatively, patch the files to remove the comments.

OK - done and pushed.

I removed the .desktop file which I originally added for the html manual. Not really needed, and didn't look right without an icon.

Please check it out and thanks for your help :)

Resolution: WONTFIX => FIXED


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