Hi all,
Ok, I've gone away and started to draft the licence. I think it's time
to go forward - because this is now the only point stopping me from
distributing the sources to whoever will have them.
Here is what I have come up with.
LICENCE
This licence sets out the terms under which this software and the
documentation may be used.
Any use of this software implied adhesion to these conditions of
use and this licence.
Headings used in this licence are there for indicative purposes
only.
1 Definitions
The software
The software is the set of source code, intermediary code, binary
code, compiled code and documentation, or any part or partss
thereof, making up the SMSQ/E operating system
and all of its extensions as supplied herewith.
The binary version, also called compiled
version, of the software is the software in the
compiled form of the source code.
Copyright holder
The copyright holder is the person holding the
copyright over the software as defined above.
This person is Tony Tebby.
Part of the software may be copyright by other
persons. These persons are not the "copyright
holder" as defined herein.
Registrar
The registrar is the person appointed by the
copyright holder to keep coherent versions of
the software and issue official versions thereof
from time to time. The person, duties and rights
of the registrar are set out in an annex hereto.
Resellers
A reseller is a person entitled by the copyright
holder to sell the binary (i.e. compiled) code
to the end users. A list of the current
resellers is appended hereto.
Software author
A software author is either Tony Tebby or any
person making a change/addition/modification to
the software.
2 Copyright
The software is copyright � Tony Tebby, 1990 to
2002.
Additional copyright may lie with other persons.
These persons are identified in an annex hereto.
3 Conditions of use.
This software is supplied under the following
conditions:
A - Source code.
In the following paragraphs, the term "source
code" also encompasses documentation as it
exists under this licence.
Obtaining the source code
Any person so interested may have access to the
source code of the software. To obtain the
source code, a request in this respect should be
made to the registrar. Such request should be
accompanied by 3 International Reply Coupons.
The version of the source code thus distributed
via the registrar, on CDRom, is the "official
version" of the source code. The registrar is
entitled to distribute only part of the source
code and may also distribute, at his
convenience, the source code via other media.
Distribution of source code by others than the
registrar
Any person may distribute the source code to
others, provided however that the following
conditions are adhered to by the person thus
distributing the source :
- Such a distribution must be made entirely
free of charge - no fees whatsoever, for copying
or the media on which the software is copied or
ottherwise, may be levied. The distribution of
the source code must contain a copy of this
licence and a clear indication that this licence
must be read and agreed upon by the recipient
before using the source code.
- Such a distribution may only be made in
either of two forms: Via a CDROM or via Email.
- Via CDROM
Exceptionally and only if
distribution is made via CDROM, the
person distributing the source code
may request 3 IRCs and a blank CDROM
from the recipient. All of the
software, including the
documentation and this licence must
be distributed on the CDROM.
- Via Email
Distribution via Email is only
allowed if the Email is sent out
individually to the recipient having
made the request. A system whereby
an Email is automatically generated
by software or hardware upon each or
any request by a future recipient is
NOT allowed. When distribution is
made via Email, it is allowed to
send only parts of the source code
to the recipient, provided however,
that in accordance to the
requirement set out above, this
licence is always sent together with
such (part of the) source code.
- Any distribution of the source code by
persons other than the registrar results in a
version that is NOT an official version of the
source code.
Compilation of source code
Any person may compile the source code and thus
obtain a binary (compiled) version and use it
for itself. However, binary code may NOT be
distributed other than through resellers.
B - Changes/additions/modifications
Any person may make any
change/addition/modification to the software,
and distribute it as source code together with
the source code of the software under the above
conditions.
Any person having made such a
change/addition/modification is a software
author and, of course, retains entire copyright
over the change/addition/modification thus made.
Such change/addition/modification may also be
distributed in binary form, provided however
that such a distribution does not contain any
part of this software in binary form.
Submission of changes/additions/modifications to
the registrar
Any person having made a
change/addition/modification to the original
source code may propose this
change/addition/modification to the registrar
for inclusion in the official version.
When such a proposal is made, the person
proposing it may state that the inclusion is to
be made for free or against payment of a fee for
each copy of SMSQ/E actually sold containing
such a change/addition/modification.
When such a proposal is made, the person
proposing it may state whether its
change/addition/modification is to be :
- distributed in the official versions of the
source and binary codes, or
- distributed in the official versions of the
binary codes only, or
- not distributed in the official versions, but
alongside them.
If nothing of the sort is stipulated, then it is
explicitly agreed that the inclusion in the
official version is to be made for free, and
that it will be distributed with the source code
and under this here licence. Any code
distributed in the official version (but not
code only distributed alongside the official
version) falls under this licence, to which the
author explicitly agrees.
Authors having made a
change/addition/modification retain copyright
over their own code. The copyright will be
acknowledged in an annex hereto.
By making such a proposal for inclusion, the
person making the proposal explicitly states
that the code is free from patent restrictions
and it grants the registrar and the copyright
holder the irrevocable right to include the
change/addition/modification in any and all
future versions of SMSQ/E, under the same
conditions.
The fact of proposing such a
change/addition/modification to the registrar
for inclusion in the official version, whatever
the form thereof, implies acceptance of these
conditions.
The registrar is not obliged to include in
official versions of the software any code
submitted to him. However, consent to include it
shall not be withheld unreasonably. The
registrar is free to include code in one version
of the software, but to exclude it from other
future versions of the software. An annex may
define the conditions under which the registrar
may refuse code to be included.
Code submitted to the registrar must adhere to a
style guide, as set out in an annex hereto.
C - Binary code
Unless by prior agreement, binary code of the
software may only be distributed by resellers.
The resellers may only distribute binary
(compiled) versions of the official version of
the software as obtained from the registrar.
The distribution of the binary versions of the
software is made against payment. Each reseller
is free to set the prices he wishes for payment,
provided however, that for each new copy sold,
an amount as determined in an annex hereto is
paid to the software author(s).
Such a payment may be made by the reseller
either directly to the software author(s) or to
the registrar. The registrar is thus authorized
to receive and collect payment, under the
explicit condition however, that he MUST not
take any payment himself, and distribute the
entire money received to the software author(s).
Payment for binary versions of the software does
not necessarily accrue on each distribution of
binaries. Users having bought previous versions
of SMSQ/E may be entitled, at the resellers'
discretion, to free upgrades for certain
versions of the binaries. This necessarily
implies that the user obtaining an upgrade must
have a previous legitimate copy of the SMSQ/E
operating system. It is the resellers'
responsibility to make sure that the person in
question is entitled to a free upgrade.
However, the registrar, after consultation with
the resellers, may require that any version of
the binaries may not be distributed as a free
upgrade, but that payment to the software
author(s) MUST accrue on it.
Any person may petition the registrar or Tony
Tebby to become a reseller. An authorization to
become a reseller will not be unreasonably
withheld. An annex hereto states the current
resellers.
A reseller must supply support to the end user
having bought SMSQ/E from him.
D - Test versions
As an exception to the prohibition of
distribution of binary versions of the software
other than through the resellers, you are hereby
granted the right to distribute binary versions
of the software to a maximum of 10 different
persons (whatever the number and moment in time
of the changes/additions/modifications you
make), provided however that: (a) you have made
a change/addition/modification to the software
compared to official and (b) the person
receiving the software from you undertakes to
destroy the binary version
- after 2 months of receipt thereof
- as soon as you inform such person that the
version is no longer a test version but a final
version
- as soon as any such change has been submitted
to the registrar and accepted by him for
inclusion in the official version
whatever comes first.
The person receiving the binaries from you must
also undertake not to distribute binary versions
to anybody else, even if he/she did make any
change/addition/modification to the code.
Even if you make several
changes/additions/modifications to the software,
you may only distribute test versions to the
same 10 persons maximum.
E � Developer versions
The registrar may set up a system whereby
identified software authors may have access to,
and possibly exchange among themselves, source
code or binary versions being actually developed
End of licence
Annexes
Copyright
All of this software is copyright � Tony
Tebby,1990 to 2002.
Part of this software is copyright �:
Cost of binaries.
The cost of the binaries, i.e. the money to be
paid to software authors (either directly or
through the registrar) is of 10 EUROS. This is
paid to :
- Tony Tebby for 10 EUR
Resellers
The current resellers are:
Roy Wood (Qbranch)
Jochen Merz (JMS)
The registrar and inclusion of Code
The registrar is
Wolfgang Lenerz.
6, rue Daunou
77340 Pontault-Combault
France
The main work of the registrar is to make sure,
as much as possible, that coherent versions of
the source code exist for all machines on which
SMSQ/E runs.
When code is submitted to him for inclusion in
the official version, the registrar shall not
withhold consent to include it unreasonably, but
his decision in that respect is final. Code may
only be excluded if there is a reason preventing
it from being included.
If the registrar chooses not to include any
code, then he MUST inform the software author of
the reason(s) preventing him from including this
code. The registrar explicitly agrees that these
reasons may be made public by the software
author, or others.
Reasons which may prevent code from being
included in the official versions of the
software include, but are not limited to:
Non adherence to the styleguide.
Probability of the code being bugged.
The fact that the code is useful only to one
machine even though is could be made useful to
more machines without too much effort.
Clashes between the proposed code and existing
code or code being written by others.
The payment requested by the software author is
inadequate in the registrar�s opinion.
Style guide
(yet to be drafted)
end of annexes
Comments
This licence now sets out, in a more detail,
what is allowed and what not. Again, please feel
free to comment and criticise (probably the
latter more than the former). As usual, I'll
take everything under consideration. If you
disagree on any point, or would like an addition
etc� then I WOULD like you to draft this as if
it were included in the licence. This will make
things a bit easier for me.
As you can see, the prohibition for distribution
of binaries has been kept. The
support to be supplied by the resellers has been kept. In compliance with an
earlier email on this list (on which I have not had comments yet) the support
to be supplied ha
s not been defined, so that this falls down to the resellers' legal obligation
under the law of the country they reside in.
There have been changes with respect to the first versions:
1 - I have taken into account Dave's and Richard's comments about te
st versions.
2 - I have take into account Dave's and Richard's (and others') comments about
distribution of the sources via email.
3 - I have even taken into account Richard's comments about distribution via
CRDOM, and the cost thereof. I would like to s
tress that I did NOT find Richard's comments about having to "pay" for
distribution of the sources himself pertinent at all. Indeed, if he finds it
too costly to distribute the sources himself via CDROM (he mentioned that it
would cost him 10 EUR), then h
e
can always direct the recipients to me - they can ask me for the sources, and
I won't mind having to pay a bit - I've already bought 50 blank CDROMS. I doubt
that I will need them all�
However, I now did include a provision that, when distributing sourc
es, you may ask for 3 IRCs and a blank CDROM - but I do suppose that it is a
moot point when Email has been allowed in�
4 - I have also taken into accounts many other comments (Tim, Dave etc)..
5
�
The licence give more power to the registrar than I
initially intended to. This actually reflects the discussion we have had here,
and what the role of the registrar is going to be.
The point �
e
�
developer versio
ns�
is something I drafte
d
very recently
, in reply to Dave
�
s offer to set up a secure website for
developers
to exchange idea code etc.
I haven
�t had time to think about this very much yet,
so I just leave the possibility there.
Please let me have your comments and thoughts -
especially if you find that there are still many
loopholes... Sigh.
Wolfgang
