Monday, April 01, 2002, 11:03:38 AM, you wrote:
I wonder if it would be worthwhile for you to contact Tucows directly
about your own licensing agreement, royalty-free, blah. I can
imagine a never-ending discussion for which license structure is the
best to use (GPL, LGPL, BSD, etc.) and there will likely always be
some that believe their type is the best. But I would imagine on a
per case basis that Tucows could work something out if it is in the
best interest of their resellers. That is all the wisdom I have in
me today.... hope it helps.
Regards,
-tom
WXW> I'm reposting this now, because when I originally posted it, the ICANN
WXW> meeting was going on, and it didn't get much attention. I'd like to
WXW> see some discussion on this....
WXW> I've been delaying the deployment and publication of my own OpenSRS
WXW> client code while I try and figure out how to stay in compliance with
WXW> the licensing issues.
WXW> While I found a solution, it certainly isn't a pretty one.
WXW> At the heart of the problem is this:
WXW> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfLibraryIsGPL
WXW> So the calls to OpenSRS's API modules are GPL, not LGPL, so any
WXW> program that directly calls them would have to be covered under the
WXW> GPL.
WXW> The solution is to create an entirely separate program that does all
WXW> the calls to the OpenSRS function modules, and release it under the
WXW> GPL, and then have the client code call that program using a forking
WXW> process, as covered in:
WXW> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLPluginsInNF
WXW> As I said, it's not clean, but it stays within the requirements of the
WXW> licensing. I notice a lot (almost all) of OpenSRS second party
WXW> developers are not worrying about remaining in compliance with their
WXW> commercial package. That just means that they have no recourse if
WXW> someone purchases their product and then turns around and releases it
WXW> to the public, and thus negates the need for dealing with the
WXW> developer.
WXW> While this will work, it isn't pretty.
WXW> The other solution is for OpenSRS to rerelease just the perl modules
WXW> under the LGPL license, and thus help to encourage the ability of
WXW> developers of control panels and other software geared towards
WXW> providers into integrating OpenSRS registration ability into their
WXW> software products.
WXW> Any comments on this?
