Best base license to pick?

[David Dillard]

Reply inline below... 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alex Bligh [mailto:alex at alex.org.uk] 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 11:17 AM
> To: David Dillard
> Cc: license-discuss at opensource.org; Alex Bligh
> Subject: RE: Best base license to pick?
> 
> 
> 
> --On 09 February 2005 10:49 -0500 David Dillard 
> <david.dillard at veritas.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > I believe this violates the spirit, if not the actual wording, of 
> > section
> > 3 of the Open Source Definition (derivative works).  The 
> rationale for 
> > that section states "For rapid evolution to happen, people 
> need to be 
> > able to experiment with and redistribute modifications."  This 
> > restriction would interfere with that goal.
> 
> What, then, is the purpose of Para 4 of the OSD? That's all 
> they are trying to achieve.

That's not the way it reads to me.  You wrote "they want to (inter alia)
ensure file format and library interface compatibility between different
version."  I interpret this to mean (and correct me if I'm wrong) that:

1. They want to ensure that the files created by any derived source code are
always in the same format as those created by the original source code.

2. They want to ensure that the interface provided by the original source
code isn't changed by any derived source code, though the derived source
code can add to the interface.

Now, if that's correct then this prevents a licensee from creating some
derived works that they may wish to create.  And that, IMO opinion (IANAL),
violates the OSD.


--- David