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

[John Dallaway]

Josh

On Wed Sep 3 17:26:31 UTC 2014, Josh Berkus wrote:

> On 09/01/2014 06:08 AM, John Dallaway wrote:
> 
>>> > 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.
>> 
>> I appreciate OSI concerns regarding license proliferation. This is why
>> the eCos maintainers are seeking legacy approval. The eCos License 2.0
>> appears to fit this approval category well.
> 
> Seems like we need a special class for "GPL Exception Licenses".
> 
> Assuming we're likely to push ahead with this (and I see no reason not
> to, since there's precedent), can you create a generic version of the
> license?  i.e. one with ${PROJECT} instead of eCos, etc.?

Are you proposing the creation of a new license based on the eCos
License version 2.0 for the purpose of re-use within other projects?

Two points here:

a) The eCos maintainers are not in a position to rename or otherwise
change the license under which eCos is made available. We are seeking
legacy approval for the eCos License version 2.0 "as-is" (in a similar
manner to the wxWindows Library License). It is my understanding that
the legacy approval category exists specifically to accommodate
scenarios such as this.

b) A more general "GPL + linking exception" license might be useful to
some projects but some further thought would be required to ensure that
such a license is applicable to multiple programming languages. The
exception within the eCos License version 2.0 text was written with
C/C++ in mind.

So perhaps there are two separate activities to consider.

Otherwise, if I have misinterpreted your question, can you please
clarify the purpose of creating a generic version?

Regards

John Dallaway