Binaries and MIT/expat license interpretative tradition

2005-03-14 Thread Henri Sivonen
(My question is not Debian-related, but I figured the people who know 
the answer read this list.)

The usual interpretation (seen in the list archives) of the MIT/expat 
license seems to be the that the copyright notice needs to be retained 
in the source but does not have to be displayed by binaries.

The license does not say that the binaries do not constitute a copy of 
the Software. What's the basis of the interpretation and that the 
copyright notices do not need to be grepped from the source and stuffed 
in an about box or similarly placed on binaries?

I have written MIT/expat-licensed code thinking that I am not placing 
an obnoxious notice burden on binaries. Now I have to explain that I am 
not, and I can't just waive the notice requirement in cases where I am 
not the sole copyright holder. Should I switch to the zlib license for 
code that I can relicense?

--
Henri Sivonen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Humberto Massa
Arnoud Engelfriet wrote:
Interesting point. But the statement would apply certainly to
Linus' own contributions. And that would preclude distribution
of anything containing those contributions under anything but GPLv2
I think. But if you can take out his code (and any other that's
GPLv2 only), you'd be free to apply GPLv3 if and when it comes out.
Arnoud
 

Sorry, but no, no, no.
Everything that is not completely independent and extractable and beyond
any doubt non-historically-derived of Linus code is a derivative work
and, as such, can only be distributed under the terms of the GPLv2.
To prove something not derivative, you would have to show that
historically, it was made for other kernel, and that there is no
tranformation of the linux kernel that resulted in that something. There
*is* at least one example in the tree: the ppp code is derivative from
one of the BSDs.
So, you could take ppp and distribute under the BSD but not a lot else.
HTH,
Massa
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Måns Rullgård
Glenn Maynard [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Such language is fine as long as the copyright holder and the license
 author are the same entity.  New versions of the license are likely to
 reflect changes in the opinions of the authors, and they have every
 right to make provisions for a modified license to automatically apply
 to already released works.  The danger arises when people start
 out-sourcing the writing of licenses to third parties.  The FSF has
 its own agenda, and has little reason to consider the opinions of
 others, who just happen to use their license texts, when writing the
 next version.

 A couple years ago, this would all have been patently false.  The FSF
 has a very strong interest in their notion of freedom being considered
 reliable, and having the community trust them to remain consistent

There is no single the community, sharing a single opinion on
freedom.  There are many different views out there, and some recent
moves from FSF have been in a direction away from a large enough
number of people, with loud enough voices, to make it noticeable.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Kuno Woudt
On Sun, Mar 13, 2005 at 03:30:28PM +0100, Måns Rullgård wrote:
 Arnoud Engelfriet [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
 
  And probably it will also deal with running the code on a publicly
  accessible server. 
 
 The question is if a license based on copyright can legally place such
 restrictions on use of the program.

Some idea of how the FSF may attempt this can be seen from the Affero
General Public License. Apparantly the Affero GPL is a modified version
of the GNU GPL, it adds Section 2(d):

  * d) If the Program as you received it is intended to interact with
  users through a computer network and if, in the version you received,
  any user interacting with the Program was given the opportunity to
  request transmission to that user of the Program's complete source
  code, you must not remove that facility from your modified version of
  the Program or work based on the Program, and must offer an
  equivalent opportunity for all users interacting with your Program
  through a computer network to request immediate transmission by HTTP
  of the complete source code of your modified version or other
  derivative work.

It also adds an interesting twist on the or later thing often used
with the GPLv2:

  Affero Inc. may publish revised and/or new versions of the Affero
  General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be
  similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
  address new problems or concerns.

  Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
  specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and any
  later version, you have the option of following the terms and
  conditions either of that version or of any later version published by
  Affero, Inc. If the Program does not specify a version number of this
  License, you may choose any version ever published by Affero, Inc.

  You may also choose to redistribute modified versions of this program
  under any version of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public
  License version 3 or higher, so long as that version of the GNU GPL
  includes terms and conditions substantially equivalent to those of this
  license.


So, if you wish to use the AGPL, you as copyright holder can choose 
between AGPLv1 and AGPLv1 or later.  But whichever you choose, you 
cannot remove the option to 'upgrade' to GNU GPLv3.

-- Kuno.
   (ps. this is probably my first post to this list, so.. hi! everyone :).


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Måns Rullgård
Humberto Massa [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Arnoud Engelfriet wrote:

Interesting point. But the statement would apply certainly to
Linus' own contributions. And that would preclude distribution
of anything containing those contributions under anything but GPLv2
I think. But if you can take out his code (and any other that's
GPLv2 only), you'd be free to apply GPLv3 if and when it comes out.

Arnoud


 Sorry, but no, no, no.

 Everything that is not completely independent and extractable and beyond
 any doubt non-historically-derived of Linus code is a derivative work
 and, as such, can only be distributed under the terms of the GPLv2.

 To prove something not derivative, you would have to show that
 historically, it was made for other kernel, and that there is no
 tranformation of the linux kernel that resulted in that something. There
 *is* at least one example in the tree: the ppp code is derivative from
 one of the BSDs.

Some of the filesystems (XFS and JFS, at least) have external origins,
although they must have been somewhat adapted to the Linux VFS layer.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Måns Rullgård
Kuno Woudt [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 On Sun, Mar 13, 2005 at 03:30:28PM +0100, Måns Rullgård wrote:
 Arnoud Engelfriet [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
 
  And probably it will also deal with running the code on a publicly
  accessible server. 
 
 The question is if a license based on copyright can legally place such
 restrictions on use of the program.

 Some idea of how the FSF may attempt this can be seen from the Affero
 General Public License. Apparantly the Affero GPL is a modified version
 of the GNU GPL, it adds Section 2(d):

   * d) If the Program as you received it is intended to interact with
   users through a computer network and if, in the version you received,
   any user interacting with the Program was given the opportunity to
   request transmission to that user of the Program's complete source
   code, you must not remove that facility from your modified version of
   the Program or work based on the Program, and must offer an
   equivalent opportunity for all users interacting with your Program
   through a computer network to request immediate transmission by HTTP
   of the complete source code of your modified version or other
   derivative work.

This appears to only apply to self-distributing programs.  If the
program does not have a send-the-source function, I don't see any
requirement that source be provided to users of a service based on the
program.

 It also adds an interesting twist on the or later thing often used
 with the GPLv2:

   Affero Inc. may publish revised and/or new versions of the Affero
   General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be
   similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
   address new problems or concerns.

I've always wondered what similar in spirit is supposed to mean.
AFAIK, that phrase has no established legal interpretation.

   Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
   specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and any
   later version, you have the option of following the terms and
   conditions either of that version or of any later version published by
   Affero, Inc. If the Program does not specify a version number of this
   License, you may choose any version ever published by Affero, Inc.

This looks similar to the language used in the GNU GPL.

   You may also choose to redistribute modified versions of this program
   under any version of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public
   License version 3 or higher, so long as that version of the GNU GPL
   includes terms and conditions substantially equivalent to those of this
   license.

It would be interesting to see the reaction of these people, if the
GNU GPLv3 does not include a source-for-service clause, after all.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Arnoud Engelfriet
Humberto Massa wrote:
 Everything that is not completely independent and extractable and beyond
 any doubt non-historically-derived of Linus code is a derivative work
 and, as such, can only be distributed under the terms of the GPLv2.

You're correct in that anything that's a derivative work of any
GPLv2 code also cannot be distributed under GPLv3 or later. But
it's going to be very interesting to figure out what code is
a derivative work of what.

Anyway, this seems rather theoretical.

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Humberto Massa
Arnoud Engelfriet wrote:
You're correct in that anything that's a derivative work of any
GPLv2 code also cannot be distributed under GPLv3 or later. But
it's going to be very interesting to figure out what code is
a derivative work of what.
Anyway, this seems rather theoretical.
Arnoud
 

Yeah, but in a back-of-envelop calculation, to completely determine what 
code is derivative of what in Linux, one would take approximately 19 
man-years. Maybe some automated way to study cvs.kernel.org changesets 
would shorten it up a bit, but ... ;-)

Massa

--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: the xbox scene is a sensible area?

2005-03-14 Thread Andrew Suffield
On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 02:47:16AM -0500, Pascal Giard wrote:
 There's no way you can use xbgm# if you haven't modchipped or softmodded
 your xbox.
 
 So... what do you think?

Well, there's no problem with copyright or freeness here. But we
probably shouldn't distribute this in the US (at least without
consulting a lawyer) given their absurdist DMCA behaviour.

-- 
  .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
 : :' :  http://www.debian.org/ |
 `. `'  |
   `- --  |


signature.asc
Description: Digital signature


Re: Binaries and MIT/expat license interpretative tradition

2005-03-14 Thread Andrew Suffield
On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 11:24:24AM +0200, Henri Sivonen wrote:
 (My question is not Debian-related, but I figured the people who know 
 the answer read this list.)
 
 The usual interpretation (seen in the list archives) of the MIT/expat 
 license seems to be the that the copyright notice needs to be retained 
 in the source but does not have to be displayed by binaries.
 
 The license does not say that the binaries do not constitute a copy of 
 the Software. What's the basis of the interpretation and that the 
 copyright notices do not need to be grepped from the source and stuffed 
 in an about box or similarly placed on binaries?

The copyright notice does need to be included with the binaries. On
Debian systems it is placed in /usr/share/doc/$package/copyright. This
isn't a particularly strange or restrictive thing to require...

-- 
  .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
 : :' :  http://www.debian.org/ |
 `. `'  |
   `- --  |


signature.asc
Description: Digital signature


Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Gervase Markham
Kuno Woudt wrote:
  * d) If the Program as you received it is intended to interact with
  users through a computer network and if, in the version you received,
  any user interacting with the Program was given the opportunity to
  request transmission to that user of the Program's complete source
  code, you must not remove that facility from your modified version of
  the Program or work based on the Program, and must offer an
  equivalent opportunity for all users interacting with your Program
  through a computer network to request immediate transmission by HTTP
  of the complete source code of your modified version or other
  derivative work.
Incidentally, this is pretty badly drafted, IMO. For example:
- The requirement to not remove certain particular code is probably
  non-free;
- The general requirement to make code available for download could be
  asserted without the don't remove code X clause;
- Specifying HTTP is not future-proof, and may not be appropriate for
  some programs or environments;
- What happens if the program interacts with other programs over a
  network? How do you define interacting with a user?
Gerv
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: Binaries and MIT/expat license interpretative tradition

2005-03-14 Thread Måns Rullgård
Andrew Suffield [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 11:24:24AM +0200, Henri Sivonen wrote:
 (My question is not Debian-related, but I figured the people who know 
 the answer read this list.)
 
 The usual interpretation (seen in the list archives) of the MIT/expat 
 license seems to be the that the copyright notice needs to be retained 
 in the source but does not have to be displayed by binaries.
 
 The license does not say that the binaries do not constitute a copy of 
 the Software. What's the basis of the interpretation and that the 
 copyright notices do not need to be grepped from the source and stuffed 
 in an about box or similarly placed on binaries?

 The copyright notice does need to be included with the binaries. On
 Debian systems it is placed in /usr/share/doc/$package/copyright. This
 isn't a particularly strange or restrictive thing to require...

This is different from the requirement of some licenses that a notice
be displayed on the console, or in a dialog box, when the program is
run.  I think this is what the OP was afraid of.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: GPL for documentation ?

2005-03-14 Thread Gervase Markham
Henning Makholm wrote:
The word linking (or any of its forms) appears exactly once in the
GPL, and that is in a non-legal, non-technical aside comment:
| If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more
| useful to permit linking proprietary applications
| with the library.  If this is what you want to do, use the GNU
| Library General Public License instead of this License.
Fair enough. Having read more widely on the subject, the problems of 
using the GPL specifically aren't nearly as great as I first thought. 
Thanks for taking the time to apply the cluestick :-)

Gerv
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Francesco Poli
On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:29:36 -0500 Glenn Maynard wrote:

 There's a more significant problem: if you say or later, and you
 don't like GPLv3--either because it allows things you don't like, or
 (as recent events suggest may be more likely) includes restrictions
 you don't like, people can take your work, modify it, and place their
 modifications under GPLv3-only.  If you want to keep your code
 available under GPLv2, you can't incorporate those changes, since
 they're not available under v2.

 Considering that a primary motivator of the GPL is to prevent the case
 where you can't incorporate other people's enhancements to your work
 due to licensing, this seems like a potentially major failure.

Indeed.

[...]
  The or later gives the FSF more flexibility to change the license
  terms for a vast amount of software they really have no connection
  at all with, with or without the approval of the copyright holders
  of said software.
 
 The or later is intended, as I understand--from rational logic, as
 I don't believe I've seen any statement from the FSF--to allow the
 FSF to fix problems in the GPL.

You've seen it, believe me!
It's in the GPLv2 text itself!  ;-)

|   9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new
| versions of the General Public License from time to time.  Such new
| versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
| differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
   ^^^

  Without or later, it's impossible:
 the only way a bugfixed GPL could be used is after getting explicit
 permission from every copyright holder of a GPL work.  Further, and
 just as importantly, the bugfixed GPLv3 would be incompatible with
 the original GPLv2!  That would fragment the GPL at a fundamental
 level.

Yes, at level that only dual licensing (which is what GPLv2 or later
actually is) can cure...

 
 That would be fine, if the FSF had maintained its traditional
 consistency. Frankly, they broke that trust with the GFDL, and so I'd
 sympathise with people no longer willing to use the or later
 language.  The above problem doesn't go away, though.

Agreed entirely.

The or later trick works as long as the FSF is trusted to actually fix
problems and release better and better GPL versions.
But I'm not sure that this trust is deserved any longer...

:-(  and  :-((  and then  :-(((


-- 
  Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
..
  Francesco Poli GnuPG Key ID = DD6DFCF4
 Key fingerprint = C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12  31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4


pgpJdE7XjSW0A.pgp
Description: PGP signature


Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Francesco Poli
On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:53:35 + Gervase Markham wrote:

[about the don't remove get_source feature]
 - The requirement to not remove certain particular code is probably
non-free;

I don't think it's forbidding to remove the code: it's merely forbidding
to drop a feature.
You could reimplement it in a better (or even worse) way, but you must
support it.

Anyway I agree it's non-free.

Suppose for example that my derivative work is intended for use on an
embedded system with very limited hardware resources.
I could fail to comply with my constraints, due to this prohibition to
drop a functionality (in the meanwhile, perhaps, I'm distributing my
derivative work separately, through my website, in both source and
binary forms and even through Debian archives, since I'm a DD myself and
have packaged my derivative work for Debian! Thus I'm a very good guy!).

Obviously, this is a thoroughly hypothetical example (I don't write
programs for embedded systems, IANADD, and, above all things, I wouldn't
create derivative works of AGPL'd programs!)


 
 - The general requirement to make code available for download could be
asserted without the don't remove code X clause;

Yes, though I don't think such clauses could be made DFSG-free...  :(

 
 - Specifying HTTP is not future-proof, and may not be appropriate for
some programs or environments;

Definitely agreed.

 
 - What happens if the program interacts with other programs over a
network? How do you define interacting with a user?

Who knows?
I agree that this is very gray and unclear.

-- 
  Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
..
  Francesco Poli GnuPG Key ID = DD6DFCF4
 Key fingerprint = C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12  31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4


pgproudW5yfWV.pgp
Description: PGP signature


Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Måns Rullgård
Francesco Poli [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 19:14:09 -0500 Glenn Maynard wrote:

 [...]
 There havn't been any such bugs, though, fortunately.  Some people
 don't like the PHP loophole or whatever you want to call it, but I
 don't believe that's fixable in a free license,

 Could you please elaborate on the PHP loophole?
 I've never heard of it: what do you mean by that?

 (feel free to change the subject or even to reply to me in private, if
 you think it's better)

I'm also curious about this one.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Jeremy Hankins
Francesco Poli [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Could you please elaborate on the PHP loophole?  I've never heard of
 it: what do you mean by that?

It's the whole web-as-platform idea.  Let's say I take a copy of latex
(assuming for the moment that it were GPL, which it isn't IIRC), and I
enhance it (maybe I integrate it with word somehow, under NDA) so that
it is no longer remotely compatible with the standard latex, and then
set up a web site offering a document processing service for a fee.  I
never distribute the program in binary form, so I never have to
distribute code either.  I'm therefore able to take advantage of all the
work the latex  tex folks have done without contributing my own changes
back to the community -- or to the users of the software.

A valid concern, arguably, even if it does hinge on certain ideas about
how the computing field will evolve that I doubt will turn out to be
accurate.  But the only licenses we've seen so far that deal with this
problem (if it is a problem) give up too much freedom in exchange.  At
least, IMHO.

-- 
Jeremy Hankins [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PGP fingerprint: 748F 4D16 538E 75D6 8333  9E10 D212 B5ED 37D0 0A03


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Matthew Palmer
On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 05:53:35PM +, Gervase Markham wrote:
 Kuno Woudt wrote:
   * d) If the Program as you received it is intended to interact with
   users through a computer network and if, in the version you received,
   any user interacting with the Program was given the opportunity to
   request transmission to that user of the Program's complete source
   code, you must not remove that facility from your modified version of
   the Program or work based on the Program, and must offer an
   equivalent opportunity for all users interacting with your Program
   through a computer network to request immediate transmission by HTTP
   of the complete source code of your modified version or other
   derivative work.
 
 Incidentally, this is pretty badly drafted, IMO. For example:

Add another one -- must offer an [...] opportunity for all users [...] to
request immediate transmission by HTTP -- doesn't mean that the request
must be successfully honoured...  grin

- Matt


signature.asc
Description: Digital signature


Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Don Armstrong
On Mon, 14 Mar 2005, Jeremy Hankins wrote:
 Francesco Poli [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
  Could you please elaborate on the PHP loophole?  I've never heard of
  it: what do you mean by that?
 
 It's the whole web-as-platform idea.

This is commonly refered to as the ASP[1] loophole not the PHP
loophole for the obvious reasons that the former describes the actual
problem, whereas the latter is just a language that isn't restricted
to usage by ASPs.

Search for affero and asp loophole from somewhere around 2003 on
-legal if you want more information on why closing this loophole is
probably not possible to do in a free manner.


Don Armstrong

1: Where ASP is application service provider.
-- 
The solution to a problem changes the problem.
 -- Peer's Law

http://www.donarmstrong.com  http://rzlab.ucr.edu


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Glenn Maynard
On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 02:44:02PM +0100, Måns Rullgård wrote:
 There is no single the community, sharing a single opinion on
 freedom.  There are many different views out there, and some recent
 moves from FSF have been in a direction away from a large enough
 number of people, with loud enough voices, to make it noticeable.

Historically, the FSF had been very consistent, enough so that many
people have been willing to trust the FSF to act in good faith with
the will be similar in spirit to the present version of GPL#9.

Given the relatively recent developments, we're in agreement, though.

-- 
Glenn Maynard


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Jeremy Hankins
Kuno Woudt [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
 On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 08:00:24PM -0500, Jeremy Hankins wrote:

 A valid concern, arguably, even if it does hinge on certain ideas
 about how the computing field will evolve that I doubt will turn out
 to be accurate.  But the only licenses we've seen so far that deal
 with this problem (if it is a problem) give up too much freedom in
 exchange.  At least, IMHO.

 Can you be specific on which licenses you think attempt to deal with
 this problem?  So far I only know of the Affero GPL, which I already
 mentioned elsewhere in this thread, and I am curious how other license
 authors have attempted to fix this problem.

The Affero GPL is the main one.  Back when it came up on this list I
think there was some discussion about possibly clauses that might serve
the same purpose, but I don't think we came up with anything
satisfactory.

The APSL tries to do this, I think, through the use of the term
externally deploy.  I think it does a somewhat better job than the
Affero license does, but is still subject to a lot of confusion about
what sorts of things count as providing a service (which is part of the
externally deploy definition).  It's also not clear where it gets the
legal authority to place restrictions on providing services that it
does.  Possibly by claiming that it would be a public performance.

You can see the discussion in the archives, if you're interested.  It
was in August of '03  came up again in June of '04.

-- 
Jeremy Hankins [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PGP fingerprint: 748F 4D16 538E 75D6 8333  9E10 D212 B5ED 37D0 0A03


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Arnoud Engelfriet
Kuno Woudt wrote:
 Can you be specific on which licenses you think attempt to deal with
 this problem?  So far I only know of the Affero GPL, which I already
 mentioned elsewhere in this thread, and I am curious how other license
 authors have attempted to fix this problem.

Larry Rosen's Open Software License also tries to cover this.
In article 5 it defines External Deployment as follows:

   5.  External Deployment.  The term External Deployment means the
   use or distribution of the Original Work or Derivative Works in any
   way such that the Original Work or Derivative Works may be accessed or
   used by anyone other than You, whether the Original Work or Derivative
   Works are distributed to those persons or made available as an
   application intended for use over a computer network.

This quite clearly is intended to cover usage on a website by an ASP.

And then article 5 goes on to say:

   As an express condition for the grants of license hereunder, You
   agree that any External Deployment by You shall be deemed a
   distribution and shall be licensed to all under the terms of this
   License, as prescribed in section 1(c) herein.

Article 1(c) is the you may distribute, but derivatives must be
OSL as well article.

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Linux and GPLv2

2005-03-14 Thread Henri Sivonen
On Mar 15, 2005, at 03:24, Kuno Woudt wrote:
On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 08:00:24PM -0500, Jeremy Hankins wrote:
A valid concern, arguably, even if it does hinge on certain ideas 
about
how the computing field will evolve that I doubt will turn out to be
accurate.  But the only licenses we've seen so far that deal with this
problem (if it is a problem) give up too much freedom in exchange.  At
least, IMHO.
Can you be specific on which licenses you think attempt to deal with
this problem?
The license of POV-Ray 3.0 and 3.1 (free as in beer, source available; 
not free in the DFSG sense) addressed this issue in the section called 
ONLINE OR REMOTE EXECUTION OF POV-Ray.

Charging for CPU time was allowed provided that the charge for POV-Ray 
CPU time was the same as for other CPU time. Obscuring the fact the 
POV-Ray was being run was prohibited. The users had to be provided with 
access to the files of the POV-Ray package.

--
Henri Sivonen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]