[License-review] For Legacy Approval: eCos License version 2.0

[Richard Fontana]

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 08:13:28AM +0100, John Dallaway wrote:
> The eCos License version 2.0 has been in widespread use since May 2002
> as the license of the eCos real-time operating system. It is based on
> the GNU General Public License version 2 and incorporates an exception
> clause which limits the circumstances in which the license applies to
> other code when used in conjunction with eCos-licensed code.
> 
> The eCos License version 2.0 is officially recognised as a
> GPL-compatible free software license by the Free Software Foundation.
> 
> On behalf of the eCos maintainers I am hereby submitting the eCos
> License version 2.0 to be considered for Legacy Approval as an Open
> Source License. The eCos maintainers recognize the significance of OSI
> approval in the selection of open source software by technology decision
> makers.

I assume that the last sentence there is the main reason for your
seeking OSI approval for the license. But in that case, why not simply
stop referring to 'the eCos License 2.0' as though it were a special
license and instead characterize eCos as being licensed as 'GPLv2 or
later' with a permissive exception? I've encountered other projects
using similarly-worded GPL exceptions but to my recollection those
projects characterize themselves as being GPL-licensed.

Thanks for pointing to the wxWindows license -- however the OSI's
approval of that license seems to be from the late 2002 timeframe,
before the rise of concerns about license proliferation and 'vanity
licenses' and such.

Richard