On September 1993 plus 3580 days James Sparenberg wrote: > All, > > There exists a project called x0rfbserver that some of our customers > have been using for sharing desktop 0 (unlike vnc it doesn't spawn a new > virtual X terminal but rather actually shares the one the user is using > right now) They use it for monitoring problems (beats the heck out of > guessing what happens you get to see it.) when the user is trying to do > something on their box. > > > The problem comes that the version released by MDK for 9.1 seems to > possibly be the last version.... The website and the developer have for > all intents and purposes dropped off the net for the last 30-45 days, or > more.(even the hosting agency is no longer in business it seems.) I've > tried to find/ contact this person to find out status to no avail. Now > I'm faced with a question. At what point is it ethical to fork someones > code? There are features that don't work right or that don't work at > all. Along with some things we wish we could add (like tight > compression) at some point in time. The option seems to be to fork the > code and issue a new project at some point. (Yes retain the GPL *grin*) > So in light of this. > > 1. When would it be permissible to fork without the original authors > knowledge?
Yes, it would. Happens often with projects where the original developer(s) disappear from the face of the earth. The only think is to allow for enough time to pass before taking over the project (it wouldn't really be a fork...it'd be a rescue takeover, because you'd be taking over the original project and continue its development and not forking off in a different direction while the original project is still being developed). I think ESR has a paper about this somewhere in his site...what I remember about it is that you should try to find the original author in any reasonable way that you can think of, and give it some time (for some reason 60 days keeps coming to mind, but I'm not sure if the paper said so or if its something I'm making up). If you can't find the author after that, go for it. > 2. For the sake of completeness. Would taking it to a dual license > (like say MySQL) be ethical? It wouldn't be legal, AFAIK (IANAL). You'd need the permission of the other copyright holders. Vox -- Think of the Linux community as a niche economy isolated by its beliefs. Kind of like the Amish, except that our religion requires us to use _higher_ technology than everyone else. -- Donald B. Marti Jr.
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