Revised License Committee Report for March 2009

Russ Nelson nelson at crynwr.com
Sun Mar 15 02:29:57 UTC 2009


John Cowan writes:
 > Russ Nelson scripsit:
 > 
 > > The only (ONLY) reason to write a license rather than putting your
 > > software into the public domain is because you plan to sue at least
 > > one of your users eventually.  
 > 
 > Russ, why do you troll your own mailing list?

Mmmm, good point, but I'd note that the WTFPL gives you whatever
warranty is available in your jurisdiction, because 1) it doesn't
disclaim warranty and even if it did, 2) it gives you permission to
sue for a broken warranty.

 > By providing a license, even a perfectly permissive one, you disclaim
 > any warranty, thus discouraging your users from suing you.  Furthermore,
 > you eliminate any uncertainty about whether a dedication to the public
 > domain is actually effective in a specific jurisdiction, or for that
 > matter in all jurisdictions.  (Some say it isn't.)

Some have no case law, do some, otherwise some wouldn't be making
claims.

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