Rod Dixon scripsit: > John, would you further clarify your point? I am unsure whether I > understand the distinction you are making. An open source software license > governs open source software.
Although the OSI certifies licenses, the OSD is a definition of what it means for *software* to be Open Source. Eight of the nine restrictions are worded in terms of what the license of the software must provide for; but OSD #2 restricts the software directly, saying that unobscured source code for the program must be easily available, but in no way constraining the license. > How did you splice this to get to Netscape > 7.0? I can post part of Netscape's license, if necessary, but paragraph 5 > (I think) raises exactly the point Alain raised (but with regard to the > BSD). I suppose you mean the NPL. But Netscape 7.0 is not distributed under the NPL, and indeed contains components whose source code is proprietary. Taken as a whole, Netscape 7.0 is as closed as Windows. I have been unsuccessful in finding a specific license for Netscape 7.0, but the general Netscape license at http://wp.netscape.com/terms/index.html#sw forbids modifying, selling, copying, or distributing anything not explicitly distributed under any other license such as the NPL or MPL. > At issue is whether a developer can define their way out of open > source by arguing that their product does not meet the definition. I assume you mean derivative works, since clearly the creator of an original work can release under any license he pleases, Open Source or not. I am not aware of any licenses that require derivative works to be Open Source simpliciter. Certain licenses constrain derivative works to be released under a specified license or licenses (e.g. the GNU GPL requires derivatives to be released under the GNU GPL; the GNU LGPL requires certain kinds of derivatives to be released under the GNU LGPL or else the GNU GPL, but other kinds are not constrained). However, the GPL does not require the software to be released at all, still less its source; you may create a derivative work and keep it in your back pocket without breach. Other licenses are more demanding: the APSL insists that you publish your modifications even if you do not distribute your derivative work at all, if you use it in a non-permitted fashion. (This is why the APSL is not a free software license.) > This is > not the current purpose of the OSD so I am hopeful that I have > misunderstood your point. > > Rod > > > On Wed, 16 Oct 2002, John Cowan wrote: > > > Alain =?iso-8859-1?Q?D=E9silets?= scripsit: > > > > > > Looking on OSI's web site, I see that BSD is OSI certified. > > > > > > However, one criteria for OSI certification is that: > > > > > > "Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there > > > must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more > > > than a reasonable reproduction cost�preferably, downloading via the > > > Internet without charge." > > > > OSD #2 is different from the other requirements: it says what a product > > must allow in order to be Open Source, rather than what the product's > > license must allow. A binary-only distribution is not itself Open Source, > > for the sufficient reason that it is not source at all, even if it was > > built from Open Source (BSD, MIT, AFL, etc.) components. > > > > The MPL is an Open Source license, and Mozilla is an Open Source product, > > but Netscape 7.0 is not an Open Source product, because not all of its > > source is available to us, even though most of its source is licensed > > under the MPL. > > > > -- > > John Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.reutershealth.com > > I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan > > han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_ > > -- > > license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3 > > > -- He made the Legislature meet at one-horse John Cowan tank-towns out in the alfalfa belt, so that [EMAIL PROTECTED] hardly nobody could get there and most of http://www.reutershealth.com the leaders would stay home and let him go http://www.ccil.org/~cowan to work and do things as he pleased. --Mencken, _Declaration of Independence_ -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
