Re: Custom license conditions and grant for Wordplay package
On 4/10/19 9:39 PM, Ben Finney wrote: > Before that, it would be better to start a discussion with the copyright > holder(s) to get a more robust grant under free software conditions. Unfortunately the copyright holder hasn't answered any of my emails to the provided address, and I haven't been able to find another means of communication. Sincerely, Moshe Piekarski -- There's no such thing as a stupid question, But there are plenty of inquisitive idiots. signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: Custom license conditions and grant for Wordplay package
Moshe Piekarski writes: > On 4/10/19 7:50 PM, Ben Finney wrote: > > * If the formulation “please do foo” is an enforcible *condition* on the > > grant, then there are several such enforcible conditions that make > > this work non-free: > Given that the wordplay package may not meet the DFSG, do I have to > remove it? That may eventually be necessary, if the copyright holder(s) can't be convinced to make a DFSG-compatible grant of license in the work. Before that, it would be better to start a discussion with the copyright holder(s) to get a more robust grant under free software conditions. The existing Read Me document gives some hope here: * The spirit of the existing grant seems to be “I want this software to be useful to the world as free software”, which indicates that a future release under a GNU GPLv3-or-later grant could meet their wishes. * The copyright holder clearly wants to be contacted about this and about people building on the work. Let's hope the contact details still work! * So far there seems to be only one copyright holder in the work, which may make it easier to get a change of license grant. You could discuss with them to confirm whether this is still true for the work. -- \ “Following fashion and the status quo is easy. Thinking about | `\your users' lives and creating something practical is much | _o__)harder.” —Ryan Singer, 2008-07-09 | Ben Finney
Re: Custom license conditions and grant for Wordplay package
On 4/10/19 7:50 PM, Ben Finney wrote: > * If the formulation “please do foo” is an enforcible *condition* on the > grant, then there are several such enforcible conditions that make > this work non-free: Given that the wordplay package may not meet the DFSG, do I have to remove it? Sincerely, Moshe Piekarski -- There's no such thing as a stupid question, But there are plenty of inquisitive idiots. signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: Custom license conditions and grant for Wordplay package
Ben Finney writes: > = > -- > > Wordplay Version 7.22 Evans A Criswell 03-20-96 > > -- > > This program was written for fun and is free. Distribute it as you please, > but please distribute the entire package, with the original words721.txt and > the readme file. If you modify the code, please mention my name in it as the > original author. Please send me a copy of improvements you make, because I > may include them in a future version. > > I may be contacted by email at crisw...@cs.uah.edu > > Evans A Criswell > Research Associate > Computer Science Department > University of Alabama in Huntsville > Huntsville, AL 35899 > > -- > = There is a significant ambiguity in this text, and I'm pretty sure we would find it problematic if this work were submitted today. The ambiguity is: What is the effect of “please do foo” in the context of a copyright license grant? * If the formulation “please do foo” is an unenforcible *request* to do foo, then there are no conditions in this grant. Under this interpretation, the legal effect is entirely in “Distribute [this program] as you please”. * If the formulation “please do foo” is an enforcible *condition* on the grant, then there are several such enforcible conditions that make this work non-free: * There is no permission granted to modify the work as the recipient pleases and to redistribute that modified work (instead, this is conditional on “distribute the entire package […]”). This fails DFSG§3. * There is an explicit clause preventing redistribution of parts of the work. This fails DFSG§1 and DFSG§3. * There is an explicit requirement that the person redistributing must send a copy to a specific party. This therefore fails DFSG§1 and DFSG§3. (See the thought experiments at https://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html> for why.) So it seems that the only way this work can be considered free is if we take all the “please do foo” as mere unenforcible requests that don't place any restriction on the recipient. I don't know whether a copyright case would be decided that way by a judge; it seems at least likely that a judge would take “[grant of permission], but please [do foo]” as an expression of the copyright holder's intent to restrict the license grant. -- \ “I bought some batteries, but they weren't included; so I had | `\to buy them again.” —Steven Wright | _o__) | Ben Finney
Custom license conditions and grant for Wordplay package (was: license compatibility)
debian.mailingli...@melachim.net writes: > What is the work we are discussing? Can we see the full source online > somewhere (to see its entire license grant)? (That was written by me in a previous message, but it's appearing in the material you wrote. I think something is failing in your message quoting set-up, which is likely to make discussion confusing. Would you like help fixing that? Contact me off-list if you need my help there.) > http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/w/wordplay/wordplay_7.22.orig.tar.gz For reference in this thread, the license grant contained there appears to be, in its entirety, this text from the Read Me document: = -- Wordplay Version 7.22 Evans A Criswell 03-20-96 -- This program was written for fun and is free. Distribute it as you please, but please distribute the entire package, with the original words721.txt and the readme file. If you modify the code, please mention my name in it as the original author. Please send me a copy of improvements you make, because I may include them in a future version. I may be contacted by email at crisw...@cs.uah.edu Evans A Criswell Research Associate Computer Science Department University of Alabama in Huntsville Huntsville, AL 35899 -- = I'll comment on that text in a separate message. -- \ “It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do | `\ is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument | _o__)will play itself.” —Johann Sebastian Bach | Ben Finney
