Fwd: Re: LAB Public License proposal

[DJ Anubis]

----------  Message transmis  ----------

Subject: Re: LAB Public License proposal
Date: mercredi 17 Mars 2004 17:14
From: Ernest Prabhakar <Prabhaka at apple.com>
To: DJ Anubis <anubis at lab-project.net>

Hi DJ,

Thanks for your reply - I suggest you repost this to the list, as I
think they'd be interested in hearing your responses (perhaps that's
what you intended, but this reply came only to me).

Alas, I don't have time to help more, but I appreciate your openness
and hope you can find some other people to help you with the language
cleanup.

Best wishes,
Ernest Prabhakar

On Mar 16, 2004, at 11:59 PM, DJ Anubis wrote:
> Le mercredi 17 Mars 2004 02:06, vous avez écrit :
>> Hi DJ,
>
> Hi Ernest,
>
>> changes are:
>>> 10. LICENSE means this document in  its integrality, without reserve
>>> or disclaimer other than herein published.
>
> This change is nexessary for compliance for French courts and CPI. I
> don't
> know if other courts need this full statement.
>
>>> 3.2. Availability of Source Code.
>>> 	•
>>>  and if made available via ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION MECHANISM,  must
>>> remain available for
>>> at least  twenty-four (24) months after the  date it initially became
>>> available, or
>>> at least  twelve (12) months after a subsequent  version of that
>>> particular MODIFICATIONS has been made available to  such recipients.
>
> Changing from 12 to 24 and 6 to twelve is only a prudence statement, as
> digging in French legal decisions showed this sounds, for judges here,
> the
> minimal duration for software maintenance.
>
>>> 3.3. Description of Modifications.
>>>
>>>  In your SOURCE CODE, YOU must include comments marking the beginning
>>> and end of your MODIFICATIONS, as well as your name.
>
> Maybe this sound unuseful, but it helps tracing who changed what when
> changes
> are not distributed as unified diff files.
>
>>> .4. Inability to Comply Due to Statute or Regulation.
>>> 	1.  	Inform ORIGINAL  AUTHOR of statute, judicial or regulation
>>> incompatibility and ask  for an allowance to specific limitations.
>>>  Attention:
>>>  ORIGINAL AUTHOR can allow you to distribute a LICENSE limited
>>> COVERED CODE, but you first must ask.
>
> Again, a French requirement. A license change in terms must be agreed
> by
> Licensor, even if changes are made to comply with local regulation.
> Else,
> License is judged as alienated and terminated.
>
>>> 	2.
>>>  Comply with the terms of this LICENSE to the maximum extent possible
>>> You  cannot reject the whole LICENSE when only one statement is not
>>> acceptable du to regulations, statute or judicial order. Only the
>>> relevant statement may be discarded, after informing ORIGINAL
>>> AUTHOR.
>
> The precision is once again to make French lawyers happy.
>
>> I don't see anything there that would be likely to affect OSD
>> compliance.   However, Section 4 seems slightly ambiguous - it might
>> be
>> clearer if you said, "You must comply with all of the following
>> conditions, or you must refrain from using the software." or whatever
>> the intent actually is.
>
> Yes, You're right. The sentence will be reformulated. You sound better
> than me
> with English legal terms.
>
>> I frankly don't quite understand Section 10, but perhaps that's due to
>> the translating back and forth.
>
> This could be the real problem. French CPI is full of terms and old
> french
> words very difficult to translate back and forth.
>
>> To be honest, I am a little unhappy with all the "Attentions".    Some
>> of them I agree are useful to clarify the intent and purpose of the
>> license.    Some of them seem more like commentary than clarification,
>
> I'll dig in them and remove not really useful.
>
>>> 2. If YOU created one or more MODIFICATIONS, YOU must add your  name
>>> as a CONTRIBUTOR to the notice described in EXHIBIT  A - Lab Public
>>> License Required information..
>>>  Attention:
>>>  Fair practice. YOU have to be credited for your work.
>>
>> Perhaps it is just the language, but this article seems to require you
>> to accept -responsibility- for the work, not that other people give
>> you
>> credit.  A minor detail, but since I didn't carefully review all the
>> Attentions, I'm not entirely comfortable that all of them support the
>> license as intended.
>
> You're right. This article requires contributors to accept
> responsibility for
> their modifications. But, if the modification is a really impressive
> one,
> Contributor MUST be credited for his good job, too. This sentence
> should be
> adapted.
>
>> This raises a larger, somewhat sensitive issue.   I greatly appreciate
>> all the effort you've gone through to submit and revise this license
>> to
>> address our concerns.   However, given that this is for use in France,
>> I would surmise that you are not a native English speaker.    There
>> are
>> several places where the phrasing and spelling seem inappropriate, or
>> at least slightly confusing.    I think it would be worthwhile for you
>> to find a friendly English collaborator to work on the wording of the
>> "Attentions," to avoid possible misunderstandings and ensure they are
>> aligned with the larger license terms.
>
> Sure, my English is not the best one ;-) I'll appreciate some help for
> the
> Attentions.
>
>> I don't know that this is necessary for OSD compliance, but then again
>> I'm not sure it isn't.
>
> Don't know. But as I decided the LAB Project should be published on
> both a
> commercial and Open License, it's time for me to enter the Open
> Licensing
> discussions.
>
> Thanks for your message.
>
> --
> JCR
> aka DJ Anubis
> LAB Project Initiator & coordinator

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
JCR
aka DJ Anubis
LAB Project Initiator & coordinator
--
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