On 2005 May 3, at 1:06 PM, Rod Dorman wrote:
> The postfix package has in the PERMIT_*_CDROM description
> "cannot be sold, see section 4 of license"
>
> Is that the "4. COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION" in "IBM Public License"
> http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ibmpl.php ?
>
> That section has a lot of crap about indemnification but I can't
> figure
> out anyplace where it says you can't sell it.
The terse message in the Makefile necessarily oversimplifies.
What the license actually says is:
> Therefore, if a Contributor includes the Program in
> a commercial product offering, such Contributor ("Commercial
> Contributor")
> hereby agrees to defend and indemnify every other Contributor
> ("Indemnified Contributor") against any losses, damages and costs
> (collectively "Losses") arising from claims, lawsuits and other legal
> actions brought by a third party against the Indemnified Contributor to
> the extent caused by the acts or omissions of such Commercial
> Contributor
> in connection with its distribution of the Program in a commercial
> product offering.
While you *can* sell Postfix, you can only do so if you accept burdens
that pretty much everybody with an @openbsd.org address (and probably
most everybody else) would consider exceedingly onerous.
I might, for example, give you my '68 VW Camper. (Actually, I
wouldn't--but bear with me.) But, at the same time, I might first get
you to sign a contract that says that you'll post a multimillion dollar
bond before you sell it, protecting me in the event that somebody runs
me over while driving my old car. *You* can drive it all you want, and
you don't have to put up the bond. But, if you sell it, you do.
You'd probably come to the conclusion that the oversimplification,
``cannot be sold,'' isn't far off the mark.
Cheers,
b&
P.S. Yes, it's Wietse's decision to license his software this way. It's
OpenBSD's decision to respect his license and therefore not distribute
it in a way that might infringe upon that license. Even if *you* don't
think it would, the OpenBSD folk are afraid it might and would rather
play it safe. b&
P.P.S. *PLEASE* don't let's let this devolve into a license flamefest!
b&
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