[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: IBM Public License (again)



Frank Lichtenheld wrote:
In my case it is a rather trivial Perl module (I18N::AcceptLanguage), to
write it was probably less time consuming than this discussion. Perhaps
I could ask the author why he uses such a complicated license for such
a trvial piece of software.

1) Given that the IBM Public License is also the license for Postfix (my own mailer of choice, and part Debian/main), I would prefer that any concerns about the license be resolved rather than left hanging.

(I realize that's not incompatible with what Frank said.)

2) If the author is issuing the software under the IBM Public License, then he is almost certainly doing that because it includes source code that was written on IBM's time. The IBM Public License was intended just for releasing IBM's own code under a free software license. To quote from section 1, "DEFINITION":

	"Contribution" means:

      a) in the case of International Business Machines Corporation 	
	("IBM"), the Original Program,

Disclaimer 1: I am not writing this as a representative of IBM ; these are my own opinions only. I am not an IBM employee.

Disclaimer 2: IBM pays me money (indirectly through a contracting agency) to hack on free software for them. Although I will try my best to be objective and fair during this discussion and in my other public postings to the Debian lists, the inherent conflict of interest may bias my interpretations.

--
Steven Augart

Jikes RVM, a free, open source, Virtual Machine:
http://oss.software.ibm.com/jikesrvm



Reply to: