Be careful with the idea of simply putting something out as "public domain". For a trivial script its not a big deal but anything much larger it can cause issues for many potential users. This is due to the fact that in many countries, there is no such thing as "public domain". The concept simply does not exist in their legal systems. Accordingly it is always a good idea to release code under some kind of tried and true license such as the GPL or BSD (my preference).
____________________________ Sean O'Connor http://seanoc.com On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 12:02 AM, Jim Hartley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But all those install scripts you are referring to are PART OF a larger > body of work which is primarily licensed GPL, so it makes sense to have > the same license for them. I agree, it's not always an easy choice, but > if you're not part of a larger work which is GPL, AND you don't really > need the protection GPL affords (is it likely that M$ will steal your > work for the next version of Windoze?), go with something simpler like > BSD ... or even declare the work Public Domain. But, if someone realy > wants to use GPL for a short script, I will not say them nay! > > JIm Hartley > > Chris Knadle wrote: > > On Saturday 23 August 2008, Jim Hartley wrote: > >> From what you say, is it really worth using the GPL on something this > >> small? Does it contain anything novel that you want to protect from > >> being used in a proprietary package? I like the GPL, and I use it for > >> some things, but I wouldn't bother for a simple bash script. > > > > On the other hand, if you examine the various scripts used to install > many > > Debian and Ubuntu packages (look in /var/lib/dpkg/info), you'll see that > many > > of them contain references to the GPL. ;-) > > > >> Something like the BSD license is much simpler. Whatever license you > use, > >> putting the appropriate boilerplate as comments should do it OK. > > > > I don't think license choice is easy nor clear, by virtue of it being > a > > common point of argument and lengthy discussion... of which I'll try to > > avoid now. :-P > > > > -- Chris > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org > > http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug > > Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium > > Jun 4 - Sqeak! and eToys > > Jul 2 - KVM (Tenative) > > Aug 6 - Zenos > > Sep 3 - TBD > > -- > Teen Angel - a ghost story - http://teenangel.netfirms.com > _______________________________________________ > Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org > http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug > Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium > Jun 4 - Sqeak! and eToys > Jul 2 - KVM (Tenative) > Aug 6 - Zenos > Sep 3 - TBD > _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Jun 4 - Sqeak! and eToys Jul 2 - KVM (Tenative) Aug 6 - Zenos Sep 3 - TBD
