For Approval: BSD License, PostgreSQL Variant

[Chris Travers]

On 10/11/07, Alexander Terekhov <alexander.terekhov at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 10/11/07, Michael Tiemann <tiemann at opensource.org> wrote:
> [...]
> > Licenses like the GPL (versions 2 and 3) are cohort sinks: they permit
> > others to relicense under their terms
>
> Huh? What do you mean by "relicense", Mr. Tiemann?
>
> GPLv3:
>
> "Sublicensing is not allowed; section 10 makes it unnecessary. ... the
> recipient automatically receives a license from the original
> licensors"
>
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
>
> So please elaborate. TIA.




Mr Tiemann's view was actually quite clear.  The argument is that some
licenses such as the SimPL allow downstream authors to essentially pretend
that the code was released under the GPL from the start.  His wording was:
"I would like this list, and the board, to consider the proposition that we
could define a trivial compatibility licensing cohort, namely, any licenses
that permit either relicensing under substantially similar terms (such as
SimPL does for the GPL) or permits arbitrary copying, modification, and
redistribution along with any other licenses (subject to a limitation of
warranty for the initial contributor(s)) and is subject to no further
restrictions be treated as a member of the cohort license group. "

In essence any license which allows for "relicensing" in the same sense as
the SimPL OR allows for arbitrary copying, modification, and distribution
along with other licenses u nder the terms stated above....

Relicensing applies to the SimPL while arbitrary copying, modiication, and
distribution applies to the BSDL.

Is that more clear?

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers





regards,
> alexander.
>
> --
> "PJ points out that lawyers seem to have difficulty understanding the
> GPL. My main concern with GPLv3 is that - unlike v2 - non-lawyers can't
> understand it either."
>                            -- Anonymous Groklaw Visitor
>
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