Squeak License OSD-compliance

[Cees de Groot]

[ please discuss this license ]

Hi,

Squeak is a freely available Smalltalk-80 implementation (and more) originally 
created at Apple Computer. As such, we are working with an existing product 
and an existing license, which makes it hard for us to just switch to an 
existing OSD-compliant license. An HTML version can be found at 
http://www.squeak.org/license.html

Basically it's an X11/MIT flavoured license, but with a couple of added things 
that we are not sure about how they impact OSD-compatibility:
- paragraph 5, "You agree to idemnify and hold Apple harmless..."
- paragraph 6, Export restrictions
Also, there's in paragraph 2 a sentence that restricts the bitmap fonts that 
Apple donated to the project; however this is not a big issue as there now 
exists jurisprudence that invalidates this clause. I have no idea whether 
these paragraphs actually interfere with OSD-compatibility (and whether the 
other paragraphs are as harmless as I think they are in this respect), but I 
heard you guys most likely will voice an opinion on that matter :)

At the moment, we are setting up a Squeak Foundation that, among other goals, 
should bring out a 'canonical version of Squeak'. As such, it is 
probable/likely that SqF will decide to re-license this version of Squeak 
either under the Squeak License (if it is found to be OSD compliant), or under 
a license that is compatible with the Squeak License (this probably cannot be 
an existing license, because we will have to keep the 'protect Apple' bits in 
there). As discussions about OSD compliance keep popping up and an open source 
project without an OSD compliant license keeps raising questions, we are 
striving to get Squeak under an OSD-compliant license out in the field.

(I am subscribing to the mailing list, so it's fine to move any discussions 
there)

Regards,

Cees de Groot
Administrative Director ad-interim
Squeak Foundation
-- 
Cees de Groot               http://www.cdegroot.com     <cg at cdegroot.com>
GnuPG 1024D/E0989E8B 0016 F679 F38D 5946 4ECD  1986 F303 937F E098 9E8B


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