Request for Open Source License Approval

[bruce at perens.com]

I concur with Seth. Don't directly modify the GPL without asking FSF, it's
copyrighted. Also, if you ask FSF, they are going to want you to not use the
words "Open Source" in the title of the license, they strongly prefer "Free
Software".

I think you should place your disclaimer right before the GPL, with a message
to the effect of "You may use this program under the terms of the GNU General
Public License, attached herein, as long as you preserve this disclaimer and
the license in all copies of the program." As far as I can tell, direct
modification of the GPL is not necessary.

	Thanks

	Bruce

From: Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>
! 
! That license is Open Source, but it infringes the FSF's copyright:
! 
! > Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
! >                     59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
! > Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
! > of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
! 
! If you want to use the GPL but don't like the particular set of disclaimers
! that come with the current version, you could
! 
! (1) Write to the FSF and ask for more disclaimers to be added in GPL v3
! (with justification for why they are needed), or for permission to modify
! the GPL v2 (which I don't think would be granted, just because of the
! confusion that might result).
! 
! (2) Place your additional disclaimers somewhere _else_ in your distribution,
! other than the license.  You are certainly allowed to do this without
! violating FSF copyrights; I'm not familiar enough with the law surrounding
! disclaimers to know whether the disclaimers need to be contained within
! the license itself in order to have effect.
! 
! Software developers in the past appear to have behaved as though disclaimers
! were effective if the user of a program could reasonably be expected to see
! them.
! 
! Perhaps, when your program starts, it could say
! 
!  This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
!  ANY WARRANTY.  For details, type "show license".  For additional disclaimers
!  of liability on the part of the Alternate Route Project and the Washington
!  State Department of Transportation, type "show alternate-route-disclaimers".
! 
! My offhand guess is that a paragraph like that would make _everyone_ happy.
! (Retaining the Alternate Route disclaimers would not, of course, be a
! license condition, but I believe that distributors would do it, as a matter
! of courtesy.  Certainly there are other free software projects with much
! more specific additional notations or credits which have managed to "hang
! on" through widespread distribution and modification.)
! 
! -- 
!                     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)
!