Gervase Markham wrote:
>>
>> Note that there are at least two folks--Simon Lucy and myself--who
>> object to specifics in the current proposal for dual licensing (though
>> not the concept itself) on the same grounds that GPL zealots dislike
>> non-GPL licenses. It would allow people to turn the code GPL-only and
>> keep their improvements to Mozilla files unusable by mozilla.org
>
> If you were planning the relicensing, how would you avoid this problem
> while still making the code usable in GPLed projects?
The proposed text includes
Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms
of either of the GNU General Public License Version 2 or later (the
"GPL"), or the GNU Lesser General Public License Version 2.1 or later
(the "LGPL"), in which case the provisions of the GPL or the LGPL are
applicable instead of those above. If you wish to allow use of your
version of this file only under the terms of either the GPL or the
LGPL, and not to allow others to use your version of this file under
the terms of the MPL, indicate your decision by deleting the
provisions above and replace them with the notice and other provisions
required by the LGPL or the GPL. If you do not delete the provisions
above, a recipient may use your version of this file under the terms
of any one of the MPL, the GPL or the LGPL.
We don't need anything more than the first sentence to grant permission to
use the file under GPL and LGPL terms. I'd delete everything after "If you
wish to allow..." What purpose does it serve?
Note that the FSF is perfectly happy with the license used by Perl, a
disjoint license between the GPL and the (to them) unacceptable Artistic
License. They grant permission as follows:
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of either:
a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any
later version, or
b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit.
That's it. Why can't we do the same?
-Dan Veditz
