[repost] [j at uriah.heep.sax.de: For Approval: The beer-ware license]

[John Cowan]

I believe I detect the symptoms of a tongue firmly wedged where it isn't
very functional.  Nevertheless:

Russ Nelson scripsit:

> You are then obligated to buy Mr. Kamp a beer.  

You are not.  The obligation is only incurred if, in your sole judgement,
you consider the code to be worth the price of a beer.

> If you then refuse to buy Mr. Kamp a beer, you lose your license to
> the code.

There is no such rescission clause.

> What if you buy him a beer that he doesn't like, and he refuses it?

Irrelevant.  Nothing is said about Mr. Kamp's taste in beer, nor is he
in any way obligated to drink the beer you provide.

> Or how about OSD#5, discriminating against people with a religious
> objection to strong drink?  How is a Mormon or Jehovah's
> Witness to comply with this license without violating their religious
> beliefs?

AFAIK those religions prohibit the ingestion of alcohol, not the
mere purchase of it.

> Or how about OSD#7, which says that you can't require someone to execute
> an additional license?  If you could lose your license strictly because
> you're unwilling to buy someone a beer (perhaps you're a wine drinker),
> that seems to violate OSD#7.

"Seems, madam?  Nay, is; I know not 'seems'."  --Hamlet

> But it's a nice short license, without any legalese.

Amen to that.

-- 
John Cowan  cowan at ccil.org  http://ccil.org/~cowan
The penguin geeks is happy / As under the waves they lark
The closed-source geeks ain't happy / They sad cause they in the dark
But geeks in the dark is lucky / They in for a worser treat
One day when the Borg go belly-up / Guess who wind up on the street.