Revised License Committee Report for March 2009

wtfpl user wtfpl.user at googlemail.com
Thu Mar 19 12:08:20 UTC 2009


2009/3/18 Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des at des.no>:
> wtfpl user <wtfpl.user at googlemail.com> writes:
>> Please approve the license.
>
> It's not a license.

It is a license, extremely permissive one.

>
> I'm surprised nobody else has commented on this, but the WTFPL says
> absolutely *nothing* about software or a document or image or anything
> else than the WTFPL itself.  It explicitly allows the recipient of a
> copy of the WTFPL to redistribute verbatim copies of the WTFPL, and
> there is ambiguous wording about distributing modified copies of the
> WTFPL.
>
> There is also something about "terms and conditions for copying,
> distribution and modification", although there is only one term,
> numbered 0.  There is no mention of what that term actually applies to,
> and from the context, I would guess that it applies only to the WTFPL
> itself.

Software works licensed under WTFPL typically include the following notice:

/* This program is free software. It comes without any warranty, to
 * the extent permitted by applicable law. You can redistribute it
 * and/or modify it under the terms of the Do What The Fuck You Want
 * To Public License, Version 2, as published by Sam Hocevar. See
 * http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/COPYING for more details. */

>
> The author claims that his motivation for writing the WTFPL was to solve
> problem of "unacceptable obnoxious clauses" in GPL- and BSD-style
> licenses, but that problem has already been solved.  The "Fair License"
> was submitted for OSI approval in January 2004, almost five years before
> the WTFPL.  It is even shorter than the WTFPL, and far more readable.

Fair License is more restrictive than WTFPL. Fair License includes a
covenant to retain "this instrument" (Fair License) "so that any
entity that uses the works is notified of this instrument." It is
possible for a licensee to breach Fair License while it is impossible
for a licensee to breach WTFPL. WFTPL is more permissive than Fair
License.



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