[License-review] For Legacy Approval: TOPPERS License

[Carlo Piana]

All,

I am rather skeptical WRT the following bits:

>  (3) When this software is redistributed in the forms unusable
>      for the development of other software, such as the case when
>      the software is embedded in a piece of equipment,

OK, the meaning of this is clear, although it would perhaps benefit from
a revision by some native speaker.
> at least
>      one of the following two conditions must be satisfied:

OK, this is now clear, at least one of the following two,
>
>    (a) The above copyright notice, this use conditions, and the
>        disclaimer shown below must be shown without modification in
>        the document provided with the redistributed software, such as
>        the user manual.

The example is clear, but why is it not sufficient to accompany any
distribution in such a form with a copy of the license itself?


>    (b) How the software is to be redistributed must be reported to the
>        TOPPERS Project according to the procedure described
>        separately.

If this was the only option available, this would make the entire
license strikingly non-compliant, IMHO. In addition, reference to a
specific project ought to be omitted, otherwise the license would
practically be limited to a single use -- a one-way free ticket to
proliferation.

I would advocate that, because the condition under b) is non-compliant,
it should be removed for the license to be approved.

All the best

Carlo


On 02/07/2015 06:22, Yutaka MATSUBARA wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> We, committee members of TOPPERS Project, decided to replace the
> phrase "either of ..." with "at least one of ..." to avoid confusions.
> The revised license text is as follows. We believe that TOPPERS
> License becomes more clear and will be approved soon.
>
> License text:
> ----- start of license text -----
> <Name of Software>
>
> Copyright (C) <Year> by <Copyright Holder 1>
> Copyright (C) <Year> by <Copyright Holder 2>
> ...
>
>  The above copyright holders grant permission gratis to use,
>  duplicate, modify, or redistribute (hereafter called use) this
>  software (including the one made by modifying this software),
>  provided that the following four conditions (1) through (4) are
>  satisfied.
>
>  (1) When this software is used in the form of source code, the above
>      copyright notice, this use conditions, and the disclaimer shown
>      below must be retained in the source code without modification.
>
>  (2) When this software is redistributed in the forms usable for the
>      development of other software, such as in library form, the above
>      copyright notice, this use conditions, and the disclaimer shown
>      below must be shown without modification in the document provided
>      with the redistributed software, such as the user manual.
>
>  (3) When this software is redistributed in the forms unusable
>      for the development of other software, such as the case when
>      the software is embedded in a piece of equipment, at least
>      one of the following two conditions must be satisfied:
>
>    (a) The above copyright notice, this use conditions, and the
>        disclaimer shown below must be shown without modification in
>        the document provided with the redistributed software, such as
>        the user manual.
>
>    (b) How the software is to be redistributed must be reported to the
>        TOPPERS Project according to the procedure described
>        separately.
>
>  (4) The above copyright holders and the TOPPERS Project are exempt
>      from responsibility for any type of damage directly or indirectly
>      caused from the use of this software and are indemnified by any
>      users or end users of this software from any and all causes of
>      action whatsoever.
>
>  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS." THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
>  THE TOPPERS PROJECT DISCLAIM ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
>  INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ITS APPLICABILITY TO A PARTICULAR
>  PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND THE
>  TOPPERS PROJECT BE LIABLE FOR ANY TYPE OF DAMAGE DIRECTLY OR
>  INDIRECTLY CAUSED FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
> ----- end of license text -----
>
> If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.
>
> Thanks,
> Yutaka
>
> On 6/13/15 09:54, Yutaka MATSUBARA wrote:
>> Hello Richard, Josh and John,
>>
>>>> I can't quite put my finger on why but the way 'either' is used there
>>>> makes me wonder whether the license author meant to unidiomatically
>>>> indicate "both". Can the license submitter comment on this?
>>>
>>> Yes, this confused me too (hence my earlier posting).  "Either" in
>>> English
>>> can mean "both", as in "There are trees on either side of the street",
>>> meaning on both sides of it.  This is not a situation where people are
>>> well served by the use of "either", but since it's legacy, I withdraw
>>> my objection.
>>
>> Thanks for your suggestions!
>>
>> TOPPERS license is described in Japanese (original version) and
>> English respectively. I think that is basically a problem in
>> translation from Japanese to English. In the Japanese version of
>> TOPPERS License, that is completely clear.
>>
>> If possible, I would like to replace that with the phrase "one of the
>> following two conditions".
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Yutaka
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