Question Regarding Derived Works
Brian Behlendorf
brian at collab.net
Wed Mar 2 00:54:31 UTC 2005
On Tue, 1 Mar 2005, Chuck Swiger wrote:
> However, if you provide documentation which claims your source code is
> RFC-1234 compliant, and you request that any modified version retain RFC-1234
> compliance, you'll probably find that most people will be happy to cooperate.
You can also model your license after the SISSL, or use the SISSL itself.
The SISSL says, essentially, "Defined here are some standards this
software implements. If your derivative work of this software implements
these standards faithfully and correctly, you may license this derivative
work under the license of your choosing. If you are not compliant, you
must release the source of your derivative work under this license". That
allows downstream licensees of your non-compliant derivative work the
ability to correct your mistakes.
I think it's a brilliant license, most useful for those organizations
worried about proprietary and non-conformant derivative works. The flaws
lie in policing, determining objectively whether a derivative work is
compliant or not. Standards documents have a funny way of being
misinterpreted....
Brian
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