For Approval: CeCILL

[Stéphane Dalmas]

> 
> I don't support it.  Your clause allowing combining with GPL programs and
> distributing under GPL effectively lets any CeCILL program be distributed
> under the GPL.  It is easy enough to add a GPL module that does nothing.
> Then, the whole thing can be released under the GPL.  I'd much rather see
> programs be released under the GPL directly, so I oppose the license.

Your opinion is certainly valuable but Open Source is also about freedom. 
Freedom for people to release software under licenses that they like
as long as these licenses adhere to some common principles as the OSI
criteria. We expect CeCILL to be judged according to this. 

We believe CeCILL has some real advantages that may benefit to the whole
community of Open Source developpers and users. BSD-like licenses allow
anyone to redistribute under the GPL. This is not a reason to decide that
they are not worthwhile.  

>From a legal point of view CeCILL would have been better without the 
the compatibility clause. Including it was a difficult choice but we did it
to show respect for the work of the FSF and the community that use and
endorse it. If the main problem the community can now see with CeCILL is this
clause, this is puzzling to me.

> Remember, if the GPL license is invalid under German law, that just means the
> software can't be distributed at all.  It is still copyrighted.  Hence, if
> the right to distribute is not really granted because of an invalid clause,
> no distribution can be allowed.  Few distributors are going to argue in that
> direction, because that robs them of a source of income. 

Maybe my message was not clear and you may not have read the judgement of the
district court of Munich. The GPL license is not at all "invalid" under
German law. And an invalid clause normally does not make the whole contract
invalid. But the German court was forced to interpret the GPL as a contract
subject to German law and this could have caused problems as in this context
they found some clauses of the GPL not clear at all. 

Best,
        
        Stéphane.