Re: NEW ocaml licence proposal by upstream, will be part of the 3.08.1 release going into sarge.

[Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org>]

On Thu, Aug 19, 2004 at 01:56:07PM +0200, Sven Luther wrote:
> > Nope.  Under QPL#3, I can only distribute my changes as patch files; I
> > can't distribute the work with my changes incorporated.  However, the
> > original author can, since I'm required to give him special permission
> > to do so under QPL#3b.
> 
> As others using your code have to give you special permission, so ...

Even if that was the case, what good is that?  It allows me to incorporate
their metapatches to my patches back into my patches?

> > I believe this extra permission violates DFSG#3.  I can't release my
> > changes under the terms I received; I have to make a special additional
> > license grant, granting the original author permissions to my work that
> > he explicitly denied me to his.
> 
> I am not 100 % convinced of this being the case, but even if it where, sure,
> there is a disymetry here, but then there is a disymetry anyway, since
> upstream wrote most of the code, and you only provide a small patch, and use
> it.

That doesn't matter.  Freedom to distribute modifications is important
regardless of the scale of those modifications.  Small modifications are
important, too.  DFSG#3 doesn't say "must allow modifications and derived
works, and must allow modifications to be distributed under the same terms
as the license of the original software, but only if they're big changes".

> Now, you may claim that the patch may be more significant than the original
> code, or equaly so. But then, in this case, it would be argued which of those
> correspond to a derived work of the other. My position is that each one is a
> derived work of the other, each being QPLed, and so each get the same licence
> and the same benefit, in particular your right to claim upstream's code is a
> derived work of your own stuff, and can thus be incorportated in your own code
> base, provided upstream incorporate your work.

The QPL requires that I give special permission to the original author to
incorporate my changes.  It does not give me that permission in return if he
does so.

-- 
Glenn Maynard