On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 7:54 PM, Ferran Pujol Camins < ferranpujolcam...@gmail.com> wrote:
> But isn't there this incompatibility issue? Since we ship the skins with > Mixxx, they form a whole product that is under GPLv2 (What does it mean > to say a license is “compatible with the GPL?” > <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesCompatMean>). > The various barbs in the GPL that cause it to be viral really only affect code -- specifically code that's linked together with a linker. This is why a GPL'd kernel (Linux) doesn't require the programs that run on it (i.e. Android, lots of apps shipped with Ubuntu) to be GPL and two processes that talk over a data pipe (network or UNIX socket) don't have to have the same license even if they're part of the same distributed "product". ("Open core" projects like MySQL use this trick to keep proprietary blobs closed-source by structuring their plugin APIs so that they are independent processes that talk over network sockets). Since skins are just data processed by Mixxx they aren't affected by the license. Copyright applies to specific physical works (i.e. the text of a book, an executable binary, an artwork file, a text file containing C++ code) -- not Mixxx as an abstract "product". Our source code is licensed under the GPLv2 and when it's linked into the mixxx binary that binary is a "derivative work" -- so those are the only two works we distribute that carry the GPLv2 license. We're free to choose whatever license we want for the artwork and other data files (database schema file, skin XML, MIDI/HID preset XML/JS, etc.). The Javascript for MIDI / HID is an interesting case because it's code that's interpreted by the Mixxx binary, not linked -- so we can choose whatever license we want for it and also distribute scripts written by authors who picked a GPL-incompatible license for their Javascript (for some reason? maybe they just really like the MPL ;) ). But CC-BY-SA can't be "translated" to GPLv2 as seen here > <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html.en#ccbysa> (the yellow > dotted line indicates it isn't compatible with GPL). > > If I understand it correctly, if we didn't include the skins with the > release but instead we offered them as a separate download there would be > no issue. But since we ship them with Mixxx, both things are a whole > product. > > I'm sorry for being nitpicky, I just want to make sure I understand the > thing properly and that we make things right :) > No worries :) IANAL but I have a fair bit of experience with copyright in an open-source setting and by coincidence as part of my "real life" job talk to copyright lawyers on a regular basis. What we do with Mixxx is OK -- as I understand it. Getting the advice of a real lawyer for Mixxx may be useful to do though -- especially since we can discuss things with them in a privileged setting. > 2015-08-23 4:45 GMT+02:00 RJ Ryan <rr...@mixxx.org>: > >> Hey Ferran, >> >> We release the Mixxx binary under GPLv2 -- the GPL may be used for other >> works but it is primarily oriented towards code and I think the legalese >> around it makes it unclear what obligations there are to uphold as an >> artist. I think CC-BY-SA makes it much more clear and is better known among >> artists. >> >> Cheers, >> RJ >> >> On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 12:38 AM, Ferran Pujol Camins < >> ferranpujolcam...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Hello, I've read a bit about the GPL and CC licenses. >>> >>> Our three official skins (Deere, LateNight and Shade) currently are >>> under a CC-BY-SA <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/> >>> license, but we release them with Mixxx under a GPLv2 license. This is >>> incompatible because we are releasing the skins as a whole product with a >>> different license. Shouldn't we just remove the CC license for the skins >>> and release all under the GPLv2? This is what's recommended here: >>> >>> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html#data >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Get Mixxx, the #1 Free MP3 DJ Mixing software Today >>> http://mixxx.org >>> >>> >>> Mixxx-devel mailing list >>> Mixxx-devel@lists.sourceforge.net >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mixxx-devel >>> >> >> >
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