scripts and copyright licenses

[Arandir]

On Fri, 12 Nov 1999, Justin Wells wrote:
> What can be done in a copyright license to effect something like a  
> copyleft for scripts? The issue also applies to dynamically linked 
> libraries as well, and will become a bigger deal as technologies 
> likes CORBA and Java's RMI spread. 
> 
> With ordinary C code, the GPL attaches to derived works because you 
> have to include material from the source program in your derived work,
> through the process of compiling and linking, before you distribute.
> 
> However, script languages don't have a link stage, and dynamically 
> linked languages defer linking until runtime (Java, CORBA, etc.)
>
> ... snip...

Copyleft is normally used to keep *your* code free in all instances. The LGPL
does this. A GPL'd library is slightly different . Some believe that it
passes itself on through dynamic linking, others think it doesn't. In any case,
it does not attempt to pass its license on to source code that is not its own,
or is not derived from it. In any case, the goal is to keep *your* software
free.

But attempting to pass your license on to someone *else's* code is a very
different thing. In the case of scripts, using CORBA objects, etc., you are
attempting to dictate to someone *else* how they should license the code they
wrote. I'm not sure that a license that could successfully do this would be
true Open Source. Even if it did, everyone who used a different license, from
GPL to BSD to proprietary, would refuse to have anything to do with your stuff.

After all, they are not modifying, altering, distributing, or even viewing your
code. They are merely *using* the software.

-- 
Arandir...
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