Re: New DFSG Draft revision #3
On Jan 14, Darren Benham wrote:
> The license can give any warranty or no warranty. It can also have
> notices saying the copyright holder is not responsible for errors and
> omissions in the software.
>
> _or_<which is better or something else?>
>
> It may be a condition of the license that the copyright holders are
> not held legally responsible for errors and omissions in the software
> (in so far as permitted by applicable law).
How about:
The copyright holders may or may not provide a warranty for their
software. They may also state that they are not legally responsible
for errors and omissions in the software (in so far as permitted by
applicable law).
> 3.3. Misrepresentation of Authors
> ----------------------------------
>
> The license may restrict misrepresentation of the copyright holders.
> <Not part of the old DFSG>
Misrepresentation in what sense? Lying as to who the authors are, or
(as in below) using the names of the authors as an endorsement? The
2nd point is more-or-less a BSD Advertising Clause thingy.
> 3.4. License of Derived Works
> ------------------------------
>
> The license can require modified and derived software be distributed
> under the same license or with any other restrictions as long as the
> new software is still DFSG-Free. <Also part of old DFSG point 7>
How about:
The license may require that dervied works be distributed under the
same license or any other license that still meets this standard.
> The license may extend this restriction to third-party libraries
> linked to the software at compile time, run time or both. It may not
> apply this restriction to software that merely resides on the same
> system or distribution as the licensed software. _<OR>_ The license
> can restrict the third-party libraries used in creating modified or
> derived works only on the basis that the licenses must be compatible
> with it's own. It may not restrict software that merely resides on the
> same system or distribution as the licensed software.
I don't understand what this is getting at... are you trying to say
that the software package may require that it be linked only against
DFSG-compliant libraries? If so, this is well beyond even the GPL's
requirements (or else you couldn't run any GNU software on Unix
implementations unless you linked it against GNU libc). Maybe I'm
missing what you're trying to say here.
> 3.5. Availability of source code
> ---------------------------------
>
> The license may require that a reasonable attempt be made to make the
> source code available along with executables of the software. <Not
> specificly part of the old DFSG>
"along with"? How about "in addition to", to include the GPL's
"separate source with reasonable copying fee" (paraphrasing here)
exception. "along with" implies conjunction; "in addition to" doesn't
carry that connotation. Or a separate sentence to specifically permit
the GPL exception (e.g. This may include a requirement for the
licensee to provide the source code for any executables for a
reasonable copying fee.)
> 4.1. Non-binding Requests
> --------------------------
>
> The license may make any number of non-binding requests. These should
> be clearly separated from the binding section of the license.
Is "you're going straight to hell if you don't send me a postcard" a
non-binding request? Just curious where the moral imperative becomes
binding (even the FSF makes non-binding requests for donations :-)...
> 4.5. Example Licenses
> ----------------------
>
> As examples, we consider the following licenses DFSG-free:
>
> * the Artistic License
>
> * the BSD License
>
> * the GNU General Public License (GPL)
>
> * the GNU Library General Public License (LGPL)
>
> * the Mozilla Public License (MPL)
>
> * the Q Public License (QPL)
* The MIT/X Consortium License <which is more or less BSD without the
BSD Advertising Clause>
Chris
--
=============================================================================
| Chris Lawrence | My home page: |
| <quango@watervalley.net> | http://www.clark.net/pub/lawrencc/ |
| | |
| Grad Student, Pol. Sci. | Are you tired of politics as usual? |
| University of Mississippi | http://www.lp.org/ |
=============================================================================
Reply to: