Which license to choose?

[Kevin Hunter]

At 11:59pm -0500 Thu, 25 Feb 2010, John Cowan wrote:
> Kevin Hunter scripsit:
>> For the code part, what Joe would eventually like is for users to be
>> able to freely engage and modify his code, but he wants to ensure that
>> they give back any updates, fixes, or enhancements they make.  
> 
> [ GPL does not require downstream licensees to pass changes back, only
>   forward to users of the downstream code. ]
> 
> [ GPL further only enforces this rule *if* code is distributed. No
>   distribution, no code sharing necessary. ]

Noted about the distinction.  Thank you *very* much for clarifying my
misunderstanding.  The point is that he wants to make his project as
Free as possible, while not deterring commercial use.  Is the LGPL the
best course then?  As I understand his project, it's to be in parts,
both a front-end for end-user use, and libraries for linking and
development purposes.

Does the LGPL only apply to libraries, for instance?

Should he be looking at another license?  The Q Public License perhaps?

As I've just demonstrated, I'm not as facile as I would like to be with
the open source licensing arena.  I've read through a good chunk of
them, but I am (clearly) not aware of the nuances.  (I probably should
have "Joe" ask his own questions, but I fear he's even less facile than
myself in this arena.  Hence why he asked me!)

>> I realize that the Apache License addresses this with it's 6th item
>> "Trademarks".  But does that cover the case where folks should give back
>> improvements to the database as well?  The database (schema AND data)
>> and code are symbiotic creatures: without the other, each are fairly
>> useless on their own.
> 
> That's unlikely to be true.  Open Source is about reuse in unexpected
> ways.

Fair enough; my assumption and projections of his code base may be
incorrect, but the question is still out there: Is there a way to
protect his name if someone else does something stupid with his project
(and then advertises it)?

Further, is it possible to license the database and data in the same
manner as code?  That is, could he apply the GPL, LGPL, BSD, etc. to his
schema and data?

Thanks,

Kevin