Compulsory checkin clauses.

[David Johnson]

On Fri, 04 Aug 2000, Ross N. Williams wrote:

> Based on some recent feedback, I have deleted it in the current
> draft. However, now I'm not so sure whether it's best to delete it
> and am thinking of putting it back in. Here are some examples of
> why it might be a good thing:
> 
> * A programmer discovers a bug and fixes it, but doesn't tell anyone!

It's a private bug fix. In my opinion, it should be no one's business
but the user. No harm to the author can possibly come of it.

> * Two companies A and B in some market are competing. They both install
> some free software. Company A then modifies the free software to improve
> productivity, but it doesn't publish the change, so company B can't make
> use of the change to increase ITS productivity. 

Again, it is still a private modification. Even though B is not helped
by it, neither is it harmed. Trying to "equalize" the benefits amongst
all the users sounds too much like social engineering, and I don't
think that's the proper role of a license. Requiring that a developer
labor unpaid for his competitor is grossly unfair.

> * A company adds 10,000 lines to some free software to make it much
> better, but simply *couldn't be bothered* checking it in. After having
> spent $100K on improving the software, they say "Why should we waste
> a programmer day checking this stuff in just to help OTHER companies?".
> Many companies are this ruthless.

If they release the modified software, then they need to release the
modified source code. But if they don't release the software, they have
already lost $100K, so why punish them any more :-)

I really wouldn't consider this "ruthless" by any stretch of my
imagination. If this software is for their own private use, then
spending $100K to improve it is no different than spending $100K to
improve their facilities or buy new equipment or whatever. 

Basically, the reason I am against restricting private modifications is
because it is really restricting *usage*. It's like selling a book but
telling the reader that they can't make any margin notes unless they
publish them, or selling sheet music but forbidding improvising on it
unless it is recorded and uploaded to mp3.com.

 -- 
David Johnson
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