New license - please comment

Tue Jun 10 19:38:22 UTC 2003

2(a) in our draft has the same purpose as the LGPL : it is for licensing
libraries that must be usable with commercial software (or at least linked
with non-free libraries and programs).

As for the goals of our license, here they are:

- Library must be usable in any program, no matter its licensing.
- Use of library must not mandate releasing proprietary code, as long as
no change is made to the library.
- Fixes and enhancements made by 3rd party should be incorporated in the
main line of the library.
- Rensselaer must able to give commercial entited licenses to
commercialise (or make commercial products based on parts of the library)
without being subject to this license.

The last point is the reason of 2(d). While it is true that we could
simply refuse code from parties unwilling to give us co-ownership (or
license) their modifications, at least with this it's in the open. Also,
asking each 3rd party providing a patch to sign a document is tedious are
requires non-trivial record keeping. We think this is a way to avoid that.

On Tue, 10 Jun 2003, Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M. wrote:

> I am having some of the same difficulties as others with this draft. Section
> 2 has a couple of provisions that appear to be troubling because they seem
> highly restrictive, and it is not apparent why. If you could post something
> about what you are trying to accomplish, it might help. Your first post
> began by acknowledging that the existing approved open source licenses did
> not fit your needs, which is fine, but you did not state what that need was.
> Telling us more is helpful for a number of reasons, including highlighting
> why you borrowed provisions from the LGPL, instead of selecting that license
> for your own.
>
> Section 2(a) in the LGPL is tied to the peculiar purpose of the LGPL. Take a
> look at the preamble again to consider whether your project meets the same
> purpose (i.e. We use this license for certain libraries in order to permit
> linking those libraries into non-free programs.)- - if that's your purpose,
> then I would find your use of that provision consistent with the OSD.
>
> Section 2(d) is probably unnecessary (assuming it's enforceable) since you
> could simply require licensees to agree to a cross-license (a nonexclusive
> reproduction or distribution license), rather than demand an ownership
> interest in copyright (which I doubt many would be willing to grant you).
>
>
> Rod
>
> Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
> http://www.cyberspaces.org/webzine/
> rod at cyberspaces.org
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Christophe Dupre" <duprec at scorec.rpi.edu>
> To: <license-discuss at opensource.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 9:16 PM
> Subject: New license - please comment
>
>
> : Hello,
> : my employer is considering releasing some components as open source.
> : We have looked at various licenses, but none seems to do exactly as we
> : need, so we have made this one.
> :
> : We would appreciate comments, especially with regards to OSI
> certification.
> :
> : ----
> :
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--
Christophe Dupre
System Administrator, Scientific Computation Research Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY        USA
Phone: (518) 276-2578  -  Fax: (518) 276-4886

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