Build bright lines

Bruce Perens bruce at perens.com
Mon Apr 25 15:45:29 UTC 2005


Chris Zumbrunn wrote:

>  Nevertheless, I changed "any modifications" to "any relevant
> modifications", which should likely help in this regard as well.

If you want to work on Open Source licensing, it's important to build a
little alarm in your head that goes off when you see the potential for
litigation over the meaning of a license term. It should be ringing now :-)

Not all licenses certified here are stellar examples of clarity, but in
general we should strive for licenses that establish really bright lines
rather than fuzzy ones that people argue about. Our clientele doesn't
have the best access to counsel, and thus it is our obligation to make
things unambiguous for them. I'd prefer not to make them discuss what
sort of change is "relevant".

Perhaps a clearly-determined quantity would be appropriate here.

    Bruce



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