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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Noatun: Licensing, and a new one
From:       "Greg Turpin" <gregturp () home ! com>
Date:       2001-01-02 9:13:39
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I don't mean to flame, but, here are some additional comments.

The Open Source world doesn't need another license.  We've got
plenty already.

Also, the "don't claim you wrote this" rule - its just not nice.
Depending on how much code you actually modified - this isn't
appropriate.  What if you majorly change the code and make
it better or account for various problems the author did not
account for.
It should be more like this:
Have a standard "modified by" part of the license that you can
add yourself to the top of the license.  This way, older authors
are not counted out and the newer author is at the top of the
list.

Anyways...licenses are a complicated thing.  Ideally everyone that
is dedicated to the concepts of KDE or all free software should
release under the same license.  That way we can defend that
license.  So, if M$ or some other evil empire decides to use
our code - we can all unite our efforts to stomp out the opposition.

Here's what we want:

1) Our software is "free" in terms of source code.
2) No one can modify or add to our software and release
it without all source code being available under this same
license.

If you look deep enough (and believe me, lawyers do) - that
is basically what the GPL is trying to do.

We need to release under the GPL because we can all unite behind
that common license.  If M$ (or another company) were to
challenge the GPL, everyone in the Free Software community
would be dedicated to the support of the opposition.
Strength in numbers.

Viva la GPL (v. 1, 2, and soon to be 3).  Heh.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Hetz Ben Hamo" <hetz@linuxqa.com>
Cc: "kde-devel" <kde-devel@max.tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de>
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 2:03 AM
Subject: Re: Noatun: Licensing, and a new one


> Hi,
>
> Sorry to be sound flaming, but wait till this get into slashdot - KDE
won't get
> PR points from this - be sure of that...
>
> Why can't it be licensed under GPL or LGPL?? (sorry for the naive question
)..
>
> Do we really need a new license?
>
> Hetz
>
> Charles Samuels wrote:
> >
> > Noatun has been under the artistic license for quite a while (it
originally
> > was under the GPL).  The artistic license is slightly problematic in
that it
> > isn't GPL-compatible, making it difficult for me to swipe XMMS code ;)
> >
> > So, I present to you the KDE License.  I name it the KDE license because
I
> > hope that more KDE applications adopt it.  I also forward this to
kde-devel
> > as a hint for KAboutData::License_KDE to be added to that enum :)
> >
> > First, I'm changing the license of libnoatun to this license, so I need
> > permission from Neil Stevens, Stefan Westerfeld, Malte Starostik, and
Nikolas
> > Zimmermann.  All of these have commited to libnoatun
> > (kdemultimedia/noatun/noatun/library).  Basically, send me an email
saying "I
> > allow Noatun to switch to The KDE License," since I'm not waiting in
line to
> > be sued.
> >
> > The license is pasted below.  It's based off the zlib license, it's GPL
> > compatible, just slightly more restrictive than the X-license (e.g.,
pretty
> > darn free-as-in-speech), and very similar to the BSD license.
> >
> > The KDE license:
> >
> >   This software is provided "as-is", without any express or implied
> >   warranty.  In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
> >   arising from the use of this software.
> >
> >   Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
> >   including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
> >   freely, subject to the following restrictions:
> >
> >   1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must
not
> >      claim that you wrote the original software.  You must take
reasonable
> >      measures to make this copyright and license notice known to the
user.
> >   2. The name of a copyright holder shall not be used in advertising or
> >      otherwise to promote the sale of this Software or any derived works

> >      thereof without prior written authorization of the copyright
holder.
> >   3. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must
not be
> >      misrepresented as being the original software.
> >   4. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source
distribution.
> >
> >
> > >> Visit http://master.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel#unsub to
unsubscribe <<
>
> >> Visit http://master.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel#unsub to
unsubscribe <<

 
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