MPL 2 section 11

Lawrence Rosen lrosen at rosenlaw.com
Mon Nov 22 21:30:27 UTC 2010


I am generally fine with the OSD-compatibility of MPL 2. Your new license is
a definite improvement. Good work!

 

This is the optional notice that MPL 2 (Alpha 3) specifies in Exhibit A:

 

    Pursuant to Section 11, this file may be distributed as part of a

    Larger Work licensed under the GPL or LGPL.

 

This is a neat linguistic effort to make MPL 2 compatible with the GPL and
LGPL. I don't mind you saying it. However, please make sure - for the sake
of all the rest of us who have so-called GPL-incompatible licenses - that
your FAQ makes the same statement about *all* open source licenses. (In
particular, OSL 3.0 software may be distributed as part of a Larger Work
licensed under the GPL or LGPL, or even MPL 2, according to that license's
author.) It is not our licenses that disallow combining software into Larger
Works, but *only* some interpreters of the GPL and LGPL. 

 

You don't need Section 11 to make that Exhibit A statement true. Apparently
you do need FSF's blessing on it, however, since their opinion carries much
weight here.

 

/Larry

 

Lawrence Rosen

Rosenlaw & Einschlag, a technology law firm (www.rosenlaw.com) 

3001 King Ranch Road, Ukiah, CA 95482

Cell: 707-478-8932  Skype: LawrenceRosen



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