On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 12:39:25PM +0100, Nils Kneuper wrote:
> 3.1.d) OUTSCH! That one is possibly really problematic. It is about the
> support and I don't know how we can possibly handle this one. We have to
> promptly respond to comments, queries and complaints (which we already do in
> our own forums and bug tracker) but there is no specification where those
> comments reach "us". So they probably think about their forums and boards,
> meaning that we would have to monitor an external source for issues. We also
> have to provide tech support which can be problematic. Is providing tech
> support (in weird cases!) to say "then don't use this program, your system is
> simply borked!"? We also have to issue patches (though we basically do this
> during our normal development)

If I 3.1.d.iv we have to provide support according to some local law,
which is really problematic.

> 3.1.e) This one states that once we enter the agreement we *have* to continue
> supporting our binaries with *all* patches and updates in a very timid manner
> (7 days). So what happens if I release when gambit is on 3 weeks holidays?

The way I interpret it we even have to provide it for *every subversion
commit* since our repository is public.

> 3.1.f) We have to follow their policies. This one does not really state too
> much but yeah, sounds okayish.
> 3.1.g) Okay, no RE.

I see a problem with this, who has to sign this? What if somebody who
works on Wesnoth decides the reverse engineer their software. (/me
remembers the Bitkeeper fiasco.) Can we be held responsible for that?

> 3.1.h) In 'i.a' we have to make sure that the description of the game is
> correct, sounds possible. On the other hand 'i.b' is a strange one that I
> don't understand 100%. The main problem I see there is "content rating" like
> it is eg required in Germany. Here content rating is done by some state based
> institution and *not* by the publisher, so what to enter regarding rating? I
> don't know what else might be covered by this clause, though it can probably
> easily break our necks. In regards to 'ii': what about stats upload (code)?
> This would count under the formulated wording. Was this really completely
> removed? If we (re)added it, we would have to make sure that the users are
> informed about this feature, too (informed probably being more than just
> displaying it in the tips of the day box).

I also see problems with 3.1.h.B.

> 3.2) Their API might change, no problem if we basically make no use of it
> inside our code, right?

I can't see whether or not we are required to, but if we are we're
adding non-GPL code to a GPL project.

> 3.3) No problem, they are allowed to change their website/product placement.
> 3.4) We get no rights to their system, fine.
> 3.5) We have to keep the bills. In case that we make it available for free,
> this would not be an issue, right?
> 3.6) OUTSCH! A big one at that. This one states that we actually have the
> right to relicense the stuff since we warrant in that one that we have the
> rights to grant the rights under the agreement, which might not be the case.
> Yes, I am not sure if those suffice for the GPL, since we only give them the
> right to continue distributing but don't force them to give the same rights to
> those they give the prog to (and other similar stuff).

Also OUTSCH here.

> 4) This one is about payment. If we don't charge for the program then it
> should not be relevant, right?
> 5) We have to keep the agreement confidential. Ups, failed, this is a public
> ML. What to do now? ;)

Yup and we might want to talk on IRC about it...

> 6) We might have to provide warranty. A "refund" should always be possible,
> right? Especially if the program is made available for free... Beside they
> also state that their systems are no backup systems, so any data there might
> get lost.
> 7) The stuff regarding when this agreement terminates. Yeah, the usual
> business stuff.
> 8) Where to handle disputes. Nothing too exciting there besides us having a
> "senior representative with authority to settle the dispute" available. Is
> every core dev qualified for this?

And where to meet? Must be a face to face meeting and if so where? They
are based in Australia and as far as I know we have no developers over
there.

> 9) The lovely closing terms.
> 
> Yes, as I pointed out there are several issues listed in '3' that are
> problematic for us and that can't be met without relicensing which we don't
> have the required rights to do. Relicensing would require asking every
> contributor if this was okay (and possibly directly asking for a transfer of
> ownership of the code to Wesnoth Inc.) which was once upon the time deemed
> impossible. So yeah, I fear that we as Wesnoth Inc. can simply not follow this
> agreement due to our "products" strict license terms.

I agree with this assessment. I'm also not fond of the amount of
assistance we might have to provide.


-- 
Regards,
Mark de Wever aka Mordante/SkeletonCrew

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