XITE license

[Seth David Schoen]

bruce at perens.com writes:

> From: Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>
> > The license above does not give you the right
> > to do that, so you would need to ask the original authors whether it
> > could be re-licensed under the GPL.
> 
> I don't see any problem in combining software under that license with GPL
> software, though. The license is no more restrictive than the GPL. It's
> identical to the case of GPL software being combined with software under
> the X license.

I'm making a fairly strict reading of the GPL which may be unreasonable
in this situation.

The X license, unlike the XITE license (and _unlike the GPL_), specifically
grants the right to "sublicense" the software.  One could argue that releasing
a work derived from both GPL and X licensed software under the GPL is merely
an example of such sublicensing.

Many free software licenses other than the GPL are _not specific_ about
the status of derived works, which makes it confusing to consider the
legal status of works derived from code which was originally under two
different licenses.  A very literal reading of the GPL suggests that it
_cannot_ be mixed with most other free software licenses.  There is an
extensive conventional wisdom on that subject, and I'm mostly
unfamiliar with it.

There is a very subtle point here concerning GPL 4, 5, 6, and 7, which
it's a bit too late for me to attempt to expound upon. :-)

-- 
                    Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>
      They said look at the light we're giving you,  /  And the darkness
      that we're saving you from.   -- Dar Williams, "The Great Unknown"
  http://ishmael.geecs.org/~sigma/  (personal)  http://www.loyalty.org/  (CAF)