On Sat, 9 Dec 2000, Aaron Lehmann wrote: > I quote the copyright: > > Copyright (C) 1991 asf, asf. > > hx is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it > under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the > Free Software Foundation; either version 69, or (at your option) any > earlier version. > > asf, asf is not a real entity, although I am not sure if this matters. > The package was not made in 1991 - I wittnessed its creation only a > few years ago. The GPL version 69 has never been published. I have > been trying to package a much more recent version of hx, in which all > mentions of the GPL seem to have disappeared. When the upstream author > was inquired, he was consistant with the what you would guess about > him reading this message so far. He said that hx was no not under any > license, and he thought that software licensing was stupid and he did > not care about it. He has not been willing to change the license to > something such as the BSD license, which would allow modification. A > good summary of US copyright relating to unlicensed programs is at > http://cr.yp.to/softwarelaw.html, and it basically says that rights to > run or modify the software, but not distribute patches to it.
You might point out to him that, without a license, no one except him can distribute the software. Software licensing as practiced by proprietary firms may be stupid, but that does not make all Software licensing stupid. Without it, software must be treated like a book, and only the author / copyright holder can authorize new copies. Is that what he wants? Anything else, and there must be a license. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jeffry Smith Technical Sales Consultant Mission Critical Linux [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone:603.930.9739 fax:978.446.9470 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thought for today: blow away vt. To remove (files and directories) from permanent storage, generally by accident. "He reformatted the wrong partition and blew away last night's netnews." Oppose nuke.
