Jordan Brown wrote:

>Lynne Thompson wrote:
>  
>
>>Are the below definitions OK?
>>    
>>
>
>No.
>
>  
>
>>o Non-redistributable package
>>
>>A software package that is licensed. The package cannot be
>>distributed except under the terms of the license.
>>
>>o Redistributable package
>>
>>A software package that is freely available for download and
>>can be redistributed without restrictions. No software license
>>is associated with the package.
>>    
>>
>
>Whether or not a software license is associated with the package is 
>almost orthogonal to whether it is freely distributable.  Virtually all 
>software packages have licenses associated with them, but many of those 
>licenses explicitly give permission to redistribute the package.
>
><nit>
>I can think of two cases where a package can not have a license:
>(1) if it has been placed into the public domain, or has entered the 
>public domain through its copyright expiring.  In either case, 
>explicitly noting that fact, in lieu of a license, seems desirable.
>(2) if it has no explicit license, then it is simply copyrighted, and 
>default copyright restrictions apply.  I believe that default copyright 
>restrictions would not allow redistribution.  (Note that for most recent 
>purposes no explicit copyright notice is required; unless otherwise 
>specified everything is automatically copyrighted.)
>
>Hmm.  I guess that means that if it doesn't have an explicit statement 
>about its license status, it's best to assume that it's not redistributable.
></nit>
>
>I suggest that this may be more properly a discussion for the legal 
>department, rather than for engineering.
>  
>
Thanks for the explanation.

I'll take the definition that we come up with here
 to legal just to make sure we have a correct definition.

thanks,
Lynne

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