From kde-licensing  Sun Jun 18 17:35:39 2000
From: Steve Hutton <shutton () mediaone ! net>
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 17:35:39 +0000
To: kde-licensing
Subject: Re: Some tips for conflict resolution
X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-licensing&m=96134995806698

On Sun, 18 Jun 2000, Talin wrote:
I think that these are three excellent ideas.

Steve

> Specific recommendations:
> 
> 1. I think that Debian should accept kdelibs and the other non-GPL parts
> of KDE into their distro. Even if they are useless in themselves (which
> I don't believe is true), it would be an important step. At this point,
> an act of good faith on Debian's part, one that does not violate their
> principles but shows their willingness to work with KDE would be very
> useful.
> 
> 2. I think that KDE should at least come up with an "official" document
> stating their position. The fact that KDE as an official body has been
> silent on this issue for so long has led many to come to the (perhaps
> wrong) conclusion that "KDE doesn't care about licensing". Of course, if
> they thought about it, they would realize that the more likely scenario
> is that it's extremely difficult for a rag-tag band of intrepid
> adventurers to come up with a unified policy statement about _anything_.
> 
> 3. I personally would like to see an comprehensive inventory of exactly
> which code in KDE is in dispute. Note that I did _not_ say "which code
> has licensing problems" because a substantial body of people believe
> that no problems exist. I accept that - I believe that parties can agree
> to disagree and still cooperate. However, a survey can be made of which
> code is "in dispute" without admitting that there is a problem. Once
> this is done, then constructive action can be taken - for example,
> individual contributers might choose to re-write sections that they feel
> are problematic - purely for functional, technical reasons of course :-)
> Or individual contributors of particular applications might choose to
> modify their licenses. This is completely independent of whether the KDE
> core group decides to take any action or not.
> 
> -- 
> Talin (Talin@ACM.org)       "I am life's flame. Respect my name.
> www.sylvantech.com/~talin    My fire is red, my heart is gold.
> www.hackertourist.com/talin  Thy dreams can be...believe in me,
>                              If you will let my wings unfold..."
>                                -- Heather Alexander