New license - please comment

[Christophe Dupre]

The problem (from our perspective) with your proposition is that if the
3rd party is too lazy to submit a patch, is run over by a bus, or is
unavailable, even if we get the code from a 4th party that got it from the
3rd party, we're no longer able to re-license the code to commercial
entities.
The type of libraries we're planning on releasing are not general public
code (as zlib, or gtk, or other could be). They're very specific libraries
for parallel computing on teraflop-sized machines. They are the result of
several years of research, and through the years we've found that our
biggest difficulty is to get patches in from people who've extended them.
Most of the work is done by grad students, who couldn't care less about
what happens to their work after they graduate.

Now, what is inherently bad about clause 2(d) ? We're providing the
libraries freely (money). And you are free to use them in whatever
programs you want. The only thing we ask is if you modify them, we co-own
the copyright. You still keep it, which gives you a garantee that there's
always going to be a free version out there (i.e. we can't just take it
back).

Giving us co-ownership of the modifications doesn't take anything from
you, does it ? It doesn't restrain your freedom. It's no different from
the GPL that makes you give out your code if you link your proprietary
(closed) code with a GPL library (not LGPL).



On Tue, 10 Jun 2003, Mark Rafn wrote:

> On Tue, 10 Jun 2003, Christophe Dupre wrote:
>
> > 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).
>
> An important distinction is that the LGPL grants permissions IN ADDITION
> to those granted by the GPL.  It is not JUST for licensing libraries that
> can be linked to non-free programs, it is for doing that in addition to
> being free software itself.
>
> > - Library must be usable in any program, no matter its licensing.
>
> LGPL covers this.
>
> > - Use of library must not mandate releasing proprietary code, as long as
> > no change is made to the library.
>
> LGPL covers this.
>
> > - Fixes and enhancements made by 3rd party should be incorporated in the
> > main line of the library.
>
> IMO, this should be up to the 3rd party.  Requiring such a grant of
> copyright as a consideration for the ability to modify the software is not
> free, IMO.  Requesting it (and making it clear that patches explicitly
> submitted to you imply this) is fine.
>
> > - 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.
>
> You're already not subject to the license on code you own.  This seems to
> be covered by the previous requirement.
>
> > 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
>
> This is the approach taken by many open-source projects, and one I
> heartily recommend.
>
> > 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.
>
> If you don't need a signed document in your proposed license, why would
> you need one for the voluntary assignment?
>
> I wonder if you can use the LGPL verbatim, and include a seperate notice
> that says "Any patches or changes sent to "foo at rpi.edu" are assumed to be
> intended for inclusion in the main program, and by submitting such a
> change you assign the copyright to RPI.
> --
> Mark Rafn    dagon at dagon.net    <http://www.dagon.net/>
> --
> license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
>


--
Christophe Dupre
System Administrator, Scientific Computation Research Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY        USA
Phone: (518) 276-2578  -  Fax: (518) 276-4886


--
license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3