[License-discuss] For Public Comment: The Contribution Public License

[Nicholas Matthew Neft Weinstock]

A few points that could do with some thought and possibly clarification:

It doesn't seem like this license requires distribution of source code.  It seems like the original author could distribute an application only as a precompiled binary, in which case subsequent recipients/modifiers would also only need to distribute their "changes" as precompiled binary.

For obligation #2, it would be good to clarify what you mean by each "change." If I leave all the original source code untouched and add new code at the bottom of the same file, have I created a "change"? Is this limited only to the same source code file, or could a "change" also be templating, Java child classes, or static linkage?

With IP licensing, the IP holder can grant a license to only some IP rights, so you want to make sure to list all of the rights you want to grant.  For example, with your Copyright license, you're only listing "use and distribute."  This could be viewed that you are not granting recipients a license to make changes (the right to create derivative works).  And you're not listing any rights for the Patent license, you're saying that they receive a patent license for patent claims but not saying what the licensee can actually do.

Finally, a quick note on naming, there's already a CPL.  Since you got rid of the word "Contribute" maybe think of a new name for the license with a unique set of initials.

Thank you,
Nicholas Weinstock

> -----Original Message-----
> From: License-discuss <license-discuss-bounces at lists.opensource.org> On
> Behalf Of Moritz Maxeiner
> Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2019 7:40 PM
> To: license-discuss at lists.opensource.org
> Subject: [EXT] Re: [License-discuss] For Public Comment: The Contribution
> Public License
> 
> (Hopefully replying to my sent mail works and doesn't start a new thread)
> 
> I've incorporated most suggestions (commit 848faa0 in the previously linked
> to GitHub repository) and attached the new draft as both plaintext and
> universal diff from previous plaintext.
> 
> - conditions -> obligations
> - at least one publication must be available for at least 30 days
> - patent grants
> - explicit irrevocability except in case of obligation violations
> 
> Any additional feedback would be welcome.
> 
> Thank you for your time.
> 
> On Saturday, 3 August 2019 23:48:38 CEST Moritz Maxeiner wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > [...]