Ross Davey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Tim Churches wrote: > > Well, if they spent 30 minutes of work to add a few files to their SVN > repository, then they would be offering the Rolls Royce form of source > code escrow - but what they currently provide with respect to source > code escrow is a ship still in dry dock, almost ready to sail but spoilt > for want of a ha'penny of tar. > > > Point taken Tim. We will get on to it as soon as we have 30 minutes of > programmer time free.
It is not a task for a programmer - it is an administrative task. Create two plain text files. One called README.txt which states what version of Argus the files in the SVN repository are for and the fact that all those files are licensed under the XYZ open source license (I think you mentioned GPL). The Second file called LICENCE, also a plain text file, which asserts copyright on the source code and sets out the full text of the open source license under which that copyrighted code is released. Put both those files in the top level directory of the SVN repository. Job done, in less time than it takes you to answer one round of these email threads about ArguConnect heel dragging with respect to open source release (there have been several such threads on this list over the last few years, and they will recur until ArgusConnect gets its act together in this respect). Icing on the cake (and to enhance the protection of the Argus source code more than anything else) would be a header in each and every file stating the copyright ownership of the code and a pointer tot he licensce under which it is released, and teh version number or at least the SVN revision number and a datestamp. Adding that header is best done with a small script, and that might take a programmer an hour or so, but no more. > However the Rolls Royce exists, it is just that not many people are aware > where it is parked. ;-) > The open source rights and access legally exists and so despite people > finding it hard to find, the escrow protection exists and is as strong > as ever. ie if ArgusConnect went 'belly up' the Health OpenWare > Foundation would ensure that the source was freely available. This is > set in stone. "El Ai Doubleyew law" :-) The problem is that in the event of a belly-up, the Health Openware Foundation may struggle, or at least take some time, to convince the ArgusConnect receiver of these facts and arrangements. After a business failure, customers will start to move to competitors' products or services very quickly, and thus every day of delay in establishing access to Argus source code and thus the ongoing viability of the product would cost a lot of the user base that you and the ArgusConnect team are working so hard to build up. That would be a shame, all for want of such a small amount of effort now. Much better to release open sourced code regularly so it can be archived by third parties, without any spectre of legal wrangles later if there is an urgent need to make use of it. Tim C _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
