RFC: "Artistic license" for Frontier scripting

Mon Aug 30 18:47:18 UTC 1999

Hello, all.

I'm interested in an open-source license for scripts and
applications written for the Frontier (alas, proprietary)
environment. I've made some minor mods to the Artistic
License to make it make sense for Frontier scripts (no
binaries, logical units other than "files"), and would
like to pursue OSI certification for it.

I've attached the modified license below. In addition,
I've posted it *temporarily* with markup showing the
differences from the Artistic License posted at
opensource.org, for comparison.

The marked-up copy, showing the changes made
from the Artistic License, is at
<http://spinwardstars.com/frontier/temp/fal.html>.

Note: I tried sending email to
license-approval at opensource.org, as directed at
http://www.opensource.org/certification-mark.html,
but have received no feedback--even so far as a
"we got your mail" reply. Since reviewing proposed
open source licenses is the stated purpose of this
list (recent traffic to the contrary notwithstanding),
I thought I should go ahead and post it here for comment.

- Samuel Reynolds

---------------  START PROPOSED LICENSE ---------------
THE FRONTIER ARTISTIC LICENSE
Version 1.0

Derived from the Artistic License at OpenSource.org.

PREAMBLE

   The intent of this document is to state the conditions under
   which a Package may be copied, such that the Copyright Holder
   maintains some semblance of artistic control over the development
   of the package, while giving the users of the package the right
   to use and distribute the Package in a more-or-less customary
   fashion, plus the right to make reasonable modifications.

DEFINITIONS

   *  "Package" refers to the script, suite, file, or collection of
      scripts, suites, and/or files distributed by the Copyright
      Holder, and to derivatives of that Package created through
      textual modification.

   *  "Standard Version" refers to such a Package if it has not been
      modified, or has been modified in accordance with the wishes
      of the Copyright Holder.

   *  "Copyright Holder" is whoever is named in the copyright
      statement or statements for the package.

   *  "You" is you, if you're thinking about copying or distributing
      this Package.

   *  "Reasonable copying fee" is whatever you can justify on the
      basis of media cost, duplication charges, time of people
      involved, and so on.  (You will not be required to justify
      it to the Copyright Holder, but only to the computing
      community at large as a market that must bear the fee.)

   *  "Freely Available" means that no fee is charged for the item
      itself, though there may be fees involved in handling the item.
      It also means that recipients of the item may redistribute it
      under the same conditions they received it.

TERMS

   1. You may make and give away verbatim copies of the source
      form of the Standard Version of this Package without
      restriction, provided that you duplicate all of the
      original copyright notices and associated disclaimers.

   2. You may apply bug fixes, portability fixes, and other
      modifications derived from the Public Domain or from the
      Copyright Holder.  A Package modified in such a way shall
      still be considered the Standard Version.

   3. You may otherwise modify your copy of this Package in any
      way, provided that you insert a prominent notice in each
      changed script, suite, or file stating how and when you
      changed that script, suite, or file, and provided that you
      do at least ONE of the following:

      a) Use the modified Package only within your corporation
         or organization, or retain the modified Package solely
         for personal use.

      b) Place your modifications in the Public Domain or
         otherwise make them Freely Available, such as by posting
         said modifications to Usenet or an equivalent medium, or
         placing the modifications on a major archive site such as
         ftp.uu.net, or by allowing the Copyright Holder to include
         your modifications in the Standard Version of the Package.

      c) Rename any non-standard executables so the names do not
         conflict with standard executables, which must also be
         provided, and provide a separate manual page (or equivalent)
         for each non-standard executable that clearly documents how
         it differs from the Standard Version.

      d) Make other distribution arrangements with the Copyright Holder.

   4. You may distribute the programs of this Package in object
      code or executable form, provided that you do at least ONE
      of the following:

      a) Distribute a Standard Version of the executables and library
         files, together with instructions (in the manual page or
         equivalent) on where to get the Standard Version.

      b) Accompany the distribution with the machine-readable source
         of the Package with your modifications.

      c) Accompany any non-standard executables with their
         corresponding Standard Version executables, give the
         non-standard executables non-standard names, and clearly
         document the differences in manual pages (or equivalent),
         together with instructions on where to get the Standard
         Version.

      d) Make other distribution arrangements with the Copyright Holder.

   5. You may charge a reasonable copying fee for any distribution of
      this Package.  You may charge any fee you choose for support of
      this Package. You may not charge a fee for this Package itself.
      However, you may distribute this Package in aggregate with other
      (possibly commercial) programs as part of a larger (possibly
      commercial) software distribution provided that you do not
      advertise this Package as a product of your own.

   6. The scripts and library files supplied as input to or produced
      as output from the programs of this Package do not automatically
      fall under the copyright of this Package, but belong to whomever
      generated them, and may be sold commercially, and may be aggregated
      with this Package.

   7. Scripts, suites, or programs supplied by you that depend on or
      otherwise make use of this Package shall not be considered part
      of this Package.

   8. The name of the Copyright Holder may not be used to endorse or
      promote products derived from this software without specific prior
      written permission.

   9. THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
      WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
      OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

----------------  END PROPOSED LICENSE ----------------
________________________________________
Samuel Reynolds
reynol at primenet.com
samuel_reynolds at csgsystems.com
Frontier Scripting: http://www.spinwardstars.com/frontier/
Frontier Tutorials: http://www.spinwardstars.com/frontier-tutorials/