[CAVO] Open source election software

Wed Sep 28 18:27:58 UTC 2016

Per OSI.   Those creating redundant license should be background checked
for motivation that could create future issue. Do you agree ?

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016, Lawrence Rosen <lrosen at rosenlaw.com>
wrote:

> "*Why CAVO Recommends GPLv3*" by Lawrence Rosen (revised 9/28/2016)
>
>
>
> There are many ways to distribute software. Valuable software nowadays is
> usually distributed under a free and open source license ("FOSS" license,
> in short), both because it is usually "free of cost" software but also
> "free of restrictions" on copying, making changes, and redistributing that
> software.
>
>
>
> There are various open source licenses to choose from. They are listed at
> the www.opensource.org website. Unless a license is listed at that
> website, most developers and potential customers won't call it FOSS
> software.
>
>
>
> FOSS licenses offer several distinct ways to give software away.
>
>
>
> Choosing among those licenses for software is not an arbitrary game of
> darts. For open source election software that can be trusted and always
> free, the choice of license is particularly important. That is why CAVO
> recommends the General Public License version 3.0 ("GPLv3") as the best
> license to use. This article gives several important reasons why.
>
>
>
> ·       Among the many FOSS licenses, GPLv3 is the *most modern, widely
> accepted, and best understood license* available today. Its predecessor
> license, GPLv2, is historically far and away the most used worldwide; GPLv3
> is replacing it in the rate of license adoption for new FOSS software.
>
>
>
> ·       GPLv3 is a *reciprocal* license. Once a project or distributor
> releases election software under the GPLv3, it will remain FOSS software *in
> perpetuity* under the GPLv3 license. Modifications to that FOSS software
> will also be distributed *in perpetuity* under the GPLv3. This guarantees
> that our election software won't ever be taken under commercial covers and
> turned into proprietary software with unacceptable lock-in and source code
> restrictions that make voting untrustworthy.
>
>
>
> ·       The GPLv3 license promotes *open and shared development efforts*.
> While it is possible to create excellent open source software under more
> permissive FOSS licenses, those licenses allow commercial fragmentation of
> the software. That isn't appropriate for widely used election software.
>
>
>
> ·       The GPLv3 encourages *trustworthy software*. There is a law of
> software development named in honor of Linus Torvalds stating that "given
> enough eyeballs, all bugs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug> are
> shallow"; or more formally: "Given a large enough beta-tester
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_test> and co-developer
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmer> base, almost every problem will
> be characterized quickly and the fix will be obvious to someone." GPLv3
> software projects invite eyeballs on all distributed versions of the
> software to identify bugs and security issues; other licenses don't always
> do that.
>
>
>
> ·       Although GPLv3 will specifically encourage FOSS development
> practices for the election code base and its derivative works, that GPLv3
> license is nevertheless *compatible with successful commercial software
> and support business* as well. One need only refer to the robust Linux
> ecosystem and its contribution to diverse commercial technology worldwide,
> whose basic software is entirely under the GPLv2 and GPLv3 licenses. The
> GPL licenses made that possible.
>
>
>
> ·       GPLv3 will encourage *innovation* because GPLv3 source code is
> open to view and change.
>
>
>
> For these reasons, CAVO recommends that election software be distributed
> under GPLv3. This will inevitably create a diverse, worldwide, and
> enthusiastic community of software developers to create election systems we
> can all trust.
>
>
>
> Since this article was first published (11/8/2014), the enthusiasm for
> open source election software has grown around the world. Projects now
> exist or are proposed whose software will be distributed under a wide
> variety of open source licenses. I have therefore added the following
> paragraph to encourage that enthusiasm.
>
>
>
> I believe that creating free and open source election software, mostly
> under GPLv3, will help reassure voters everywhere that their votes will be
> efficiently collected and recorded fairly. But this does not mean that all
> election software must be created initially under GPLv3. There is a large
> project community we can build around many open source licenses that are
> compatible with GPLv3 for election system software. For example, the OSET
> OPL, the MPL, and the Apache License, and many others, are compatible with
> GPLv3. Such software can trivially be aggregated with GPLv3 software for
> use everywhere.
>
>
>
> /Larry
>
>
>
> Lawrence Rosen
>
> Rosenlaw (www.rosenlaw.com)
>
> 3001 King Ranch Rd., Ukiah, CA 95482
>
> Cell: 707-478-8932
>
> This email is licensed under CC-BY-4.0
> <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>. Please copy freely.  [image:
> https://licensebuttons.net/l/by/4.0/88x31.png]
>
>
>
> ******************
>
>
>
> From the OSET OPL <https://opensource.org/licenses/OPL-2.1> license:
>
>
>
> 3.3. Distribution of a Larger Work
> You may create and distribute a Larger Work under terms of Your choice,
> provided that You also comply with the requirements of this License for the
> Covered Software. If the Larger Work is a combination of Covered Software
> with a work governed by one or more Secondary Lcenses, and the Covered
> Software is not Incompatible With Secondary Licenses, this License permits
> You to additionally distribute such Covered Software under the terms of
> such Secondary License(s), so that the recipient of the Larger Work may, at
> their option, further distribute the Covered Software under the terms of
> either this License or such Secondary License(s).
>
>
>
> 1.12. “Secondary License” means either the GNU General Public License,
> Version 2.0, the GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 2.1, the GNU
> Affero General Public License, Version 3.0, or any later versions of those
> licenses.
>
>
>
>
>
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>

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