RFC: Transitive Grace Period Public Licence
Dear debian-legal:
I'm a contributor to a Free Software project -- http://allmydata.org ,
which is sponsored by a tiny startup -- http://allmydata.com .
We have produced a major work -- a decentralized, secure cloud-storage
network named "tahoe-lafs", and a few spin-off libraries -- zfec,
pycryptopp, dupfilefind, and others. All of our work is released
under Free Software licences. There has been some interest in
packaging some of this software for Debian [1]. tahoe-lafs is
licensed with a dual-licence -- GPLv2 or later, or The Transitive
Grace Period Public Licence.
The Transitive Grace Period Public Licence (TGPPL) is a licence that I
wrote by adding a small clause to the Open Source License v3.0. The
TGPPL is a "copyleft" or "transitive" licence -- it offers you the
right to make derived works on the condition that you extend the same
set of rights to users of your derived works. The small added clause
is "no later than 12 months after You distributed or communicated said
copies" -- this allows the recipient who makes a derived work to
distribute that derived work without source code for up to 12 months.
(The licence text is appended and attached in text/plain format.)
I am well aware of the problems of licence proliferation and I tried
for a long time to achieve my goal without creating a new licence, but
that turns out to be impossible. My motivation for creating this
licence is:
If Alice gives Bob a work under a permissive licence such as a BSD-
style licence, then Bob may create a proprietary derived work and to
make his derived work available to others without revealing the
source code to them. One could say that the "grace period" during
which he is allowed to distribute proprietary derived works and
before he is compelled to open source his derived work is endless.
If Alice gives Bob a work under a transitive licence such as the GPL
or the OSL, and Bob makes a derived work available to others, then he
is obligated to share the source code of his derived work with others
immediately. One could say that the "grace period" offered to him is
zero minutes.
I hypothesize that some duration of grace period more than zero and
less than infinity might yield greater social good. By being less
than infinite (in fact, 12 months), it compels the producers of
derived works to share their source code. By being greater than
zero, it facilitates the use of the capitalist feedback loop, in
which part of the value that the work produces for others is directed
back into the input -- directed to making more resources available for
producing more of such work. Hopefully the combination of these
two properties will yield greater aggregate social good than either
property would alone.
Please see Ping Yee's eloquent summary, which expresses the rationale
in a few sentences and pictures:
http://zooko.com/tgppl.pdf
My primary reason for writing to debian-legal is to ask if, in your
opinion, the TGPPLv1.0 is DFSG-free, and if not why not. If it isn't
then I will want to amend it until it is. Also, I am curious if there
are any strange consequences of including dual-licensed software in
Debian when one of the licences *isn't* DFSG-free.
You might also be interested in the long and (for me at least)
emotional discussion about TGPPLv1.0 which is ongoing on the OSI's
license-discuss list:
My initial Request For Approval to OSI two months ago:
http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?17:mss:462:200812:ofpndmgcgmbhbmimpkpe
in which I accuse OSI of using their authority to approve
Open-Source-Definition-conformance for a wider purpose than judging
the open-sourciness of licences:
http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?17:mss:491:200901:hnghfggnikagbelnanba
in which I dare OSI to sue me for describing TGPPL as "Open Source":
http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?17:mss:531:200902:ofpndmgcgmbhbmimpkpe
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn
[1] http://allmydata.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2008-October/000853.html
---
Tahoe, the Least-Authority Filesystem -- http://allmydata.org
store your data: $10/month -- http://allmydata.com/?tracking=zsig
TGPPLv1.0 is appended and attached, and also hosted at this location
(in HTML form):
http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe/trunk/COPYING.TGPPL.html
Transitive Grace Period Public Licence ("TGPPL") v. 1.0
This Transitive Grace Period Public Licence (the "License") applies to any
original work of authorship (the "Original Work") whose owner (the
"Licensor") has placed the following licensing notice adjacent to the
copyright notice for the Original Work:
Licensed under the Transitive Grace Period Public Licence version 1.0
1. Grant of Copyright License. Licensor grants You a worldwide,
royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable license, for the duration
of the copyright, to do the following:
a. to reproduce the Original Work in copies, either alone or as part
of a collective work;
b. to translate, adapt, alter, transform, modify, or arrange the
Original Work, thereby creating derivative works ("Derivative
Works") based upon the Original Work;
c. to distribute or communicate copies of the Original Work and
Derivative Works to the public, with the proviso that copies of
Original Work or Derivative Works that You distribute or
communicate shall be licensed under this Transitive Grace Period
Public Licence no later than 12 months after You distributed or
communicated said copies;
d. to perform the Original Work publicly; and
e. to display the Original Work publicly.
2. Grant of Patent License. Licensor grants You a worldwide,
royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable license, under patent
claims owned or controlled by the Licensor that are embodied in the
Original Work as furnished by the Licensor, for the duration of the
patents, to make, use, sell, offer for sale, have made, and import the
Original Work and Derivative Works.
3. Grant of Source Code License. The term "Source Code" means the
preferred form of the Original Work for making modifications to it and
all available documentation describing how to modify the Original
Work. Licensor agrees to provide a machine-readable copy of the Source
Code of the Original Work along with each copy of the Original Work
that Licensor distributes. Licensor reserves the right to satisfy this
obligation by placing a machine-readable copy of the Source Code in an
information repository reasonably calculated to permit inexpensive and
convenient access by You for as long as Licensor continues to
distribute the Original Work.
4. Exclusions From License Grant. Neither the names of Licensor, nor the
names of any contributors to the Original Work, nor any of their
trademarks or service marks, may be used to endorse or promote
products derived from this Original Work without express prior
permission of the Licensor. Except as expressly stated herein, nothing
in this License grants any license to Licensor's trademarks,
copyrights, patents, trade secrets or any other intellectual property.
No patent license is granted to make, use, sell, offer for sale, have
made, or import embodiments of any patent claims other than the
licensed claims defined in Section 2. No license is granted to the
trademarks of Licensor even if such marks are included in the Original
Work. Nothing in this License shall be interpreted to prohibit
Licensor from licensing under terms different from this License any
Original Work that Licensor otherwise would have a right to license.
5. External Deployment. The term "External Deployment" means the use,
distribution, or communication of the Original Work or Derivative
Works in any way such that the Original Work or Derivative Works may
be used by anyone other than You, whether those works are distributed
or communicated to those persons or made available as an application
intended for use over a network. As an express condition for the
grants of license hereunder, You must treat any External Deployment by
You of the Original Work or a Derivative Work as a distribution under
section 1(c).
6. Attribution Rights. You must retain, in the Source Code of any
Derivative Works that You create, all copyright, patent, or trademark
notices from the Source Code of the Original Work, as well as any
notices of licensing and any descriptive text identified therein as an
"Attribution Notice." You must cause the Source Code for any
Derivative Works that You create to carry a prominent Attribution
Notice reasonably calculated to inform recipients that You have
modified the Original Work.
7. Warranty of Provenance and Disclaimer of Warranty. Licensor warrants
that the copyright in and to the Original Work and the patent rights
granted herein by Licensor are owned by the Licensor or are
sublicensed to You under the terms of this License with the permission
of the contributor(s) of those copyrights and patent rights. Except as
expressly stated in the immediately preceding sentence, the Original
Work is provided under this License on an "AS IS" BASIS and WITHOUT
WARRANTY, either express or implied, including, without limitation,
the warranties of non-infringement, merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY OF THE ORIGINAL
WORK IS WITH YOU. This DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY constitutes an essential
part of this License. No license to the Original Work is granted by
this License except under this disclaimer.
8. Limitation of Liability. Under no circumstances and under no legal
theory, whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or
otherwise, shall the Licensor be liable to anyone for any indirect,
special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising
as a result of this License or the use of the Original Work including,
without limitation, damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage,
computer failure or malfunction, or any and all other commercial
damages or losses. This limitation of liability shall not apply to the
extent applicable law prohibits such limitation.
9. Acceptance and Termination. If, at any time, You expressly assented to
this License, that assent indicates your clear and irrevocable
acceptance of this License and all of its terms and conditions. If You
distribute or communicate copies of the Original Work or a Derivative
Work, You must make a reasonable effort under the circumstances to
obtain the express assent of recipients to the terms of this License.
This License conditions your rights to undertake the activities listed
in Section 1, including your right to create Derivative Works based
upon the Original Work, and doing so without honoring these terms and
conditions is prohibited by copyright law and international treaty.
Nothing in this License is intended to affect copyright exceptions and
limitations (including 'fair use' or 'fair dealing'). This License
shall terminate immediately and You may no longer exercise any of the
rights granted to You by this License upon your failure to honor the
conditions in Section 1(c).
10. Termination for Patent Action. This License shall terminate
automatically and You may no longer exercise any of the rights granted
to You by this License as of the date You commence an action,
including a cross-claim or counterclaim, against Licensor or any
licensee alleging that the Original Work infringes a patent. This
termination provision shall not apply for an action alleging patent
infringement by combinations of the Original Work with other software
or hardware.
11. Jurisdiction, Venue and Governing Law. Any action or suit relating to
this License may be brought only in the courts of a jurisdiction
wherein the Licensor resides or in which Licensor conducts its primary
business, and under the laws of that jurisdiction excluding its
conflict-of-law provisions. The application of the United Nations
Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is
expressly excluded. Any use of the Original Work outside the scope of
this License or after its termination shall be subject to the
requirements and penalties of copyright or patent law in the
appropriate jurisdiction. This section shall survive the termination
of this License.
12. Attorneys' Fees. In any action to enforce the terms of this License or
seeking damages relating thereto, the prevailing party shall be
entitled to recover its costs and expenses, including, without
limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred in
connection with such action, including any appeal of such action. This
section shall survive the termination of this License.
13. Miscellaneous. If any provision of this License is held to be
unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent
necessary to make it enforceable.
14. Definition of "You" in This License. "You" throughout this License,
whether in upper or lower case, means an individual or a legal entity
exercising rights under, and complying with all of the terms of, this
License. For legal entities, "You" includes any entity that controls,
is controlled by, or is under common control with you. For purposes of
this definition, "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to
cause the direction or management of such entity, whether by contract
or otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
15. Right to Use. You may use the Original Work in all ways not otherwise
restricted or conditioned by this License or by law, and Licensor
promises not to interfere with or be responsible for such uses by You.
16. Modification of This License. This License is Copyright (c) 2007 Zooko
Wilcox-O'Hearn. Permission is granted to copy, distribute, or
communicate this License without modification. Nothing in this License
permits You to modify this License as applied to the Original Work or
to Derivative Works. However, You may modify the text of this License
and copy, distribute or communicate your modified version (the
"Modified License") and apply it to other original works of authorship
subject to the following conditions: (i) You may not indicate in any
way that your Modified License is the "Transitive Grace Period Public
Licence" or "TGPPL" and you may not use those names in the name of
your Modified License; and (ii) You must replace the notice specified
in the first paragraph above with the notice "Licensed under " or with
a notice of your own that is not confusingly similar to the notice in
this License.
Transitive Grace Period Public Licence ("TGPPL") v. 1.0
This Transitive Grace Period Public Licence (the "License") applies to any
original work of authorship (the "Original Work") whose owner (the
"Licensor") has placed the following licensing notice adjacent to the
copyright notice for the Original Work:
Licensed under the Transitive Grace Period Public Licence version 1.0
1. Grant of Copyright License. Licensor grants You a worldwide,
royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable license, for the duration
of the copyright, to do the following:
a. to reproduce the Original Work in copies, either alone or as part
of a collective work;
b. to translate, adapt, alter, transform, modify, or arrange the
Original Work, thereby creating derivative works ("Derivative
Works") based upon the Original Work;
c. to distribute or communicate copies of the Original Work and
Derivative Works to the public, with the proviso that copies of
Original Work or Derivative Works that You distribute or
communicate shall be licensed under this Transitive Grace Period
Public Licence no later than 12 months after You distributed or
communicated said copies;
d. to perform the Original Work publicly; and
e. to display the Original Work publicly.
2. Grant of Patent License. Licensor grants You a worldwide,
royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable license, under patent
claims owned or controlled by the Licensor that are embodied in the
Original Work as furnished by the Licensor, for the duration of the
patents, to make, use, sell, offer for sale, have made, and import the
Original Work and Derivative Works.
3. Grant of Source Code License. The term "Source Code" means the
preferred form of the Original Work for making modifications to it and
all available documentation describing how to modify the Original
Work. Licensor agrees to provide a machine-readable copy of the Source
Code of the Original Work along with each copy of the Original Work
that Licensor distributes. Licensor reserves the right to satisfy this
obligation by placing a machine-readable copy of the Source Code in an
information repository reasonably calculated to permit inexpensive and
convenient access by You for as long as Licensor continues to
distribute the Original Work.
4. Exclusions From License Grant. Neither the names of Licensor, nor the
names of any contributors to the Original Work, nor any of their
trademarks or service marks, may be used to endorse or promote
products derived from this Original Work without express prior
permission of the Licensor. Except as expressly stated herein, nothing
in this License grants any license to Licensor's trademarks,
copyrights, patents, trade secrets or any other intellectual property.
No patent license is granted to make, use, sell, offer for sale, have
made, or import embodiments of any patent claims other than the
licensed claims defined in Section 2. No license is granted to the
trademarks of Licensor even if such marks are included in the Original
Work. Nothing in this License shall be interpreted to prohibit
Licensor from licensing under terms different from this License any
Original Work that Licensor otherwise would have a right to license.
5. External Deployment. The term "External Deployment" means the use,
distribution, or communication of the Original Work or Derivative
Works in any way such that the Original Work or Derivative Works may
be used by anyone other than You, whether those works are distributed
or communicated to those persons or made available as an application
intended for use over a network. As an express condition for the
grants of license hereunder, You must treat any External Deployment by
You of the Original Work or a Derivative Work as a distribution under
section 1(c).
6. Attribution Rights. You must retain, in the Source Code of any
Derivative Works that You create, all copyright, patent, or trademark
notices from the Source Code of the Original Work, as well as any
notices of licensing and any descriptive text identified therein as an
"Attribution Notice." You must cause the Source Code for any
Derivative Works that You create to carry a prominent Attribution
Notice reasonably calculated to inform recipients that You have
modified the Original Work.
7. Warranty of Provenance and Disclaimer of Warranty. Licensor warrants
that the copyright in and to the Original Work and the patent rights
granted herein by Licensor are owned by the Licensor or are
sublicensed to You under the terms of this License with the permission
of the contributor(s) of those copyrights and patent rights. Except as
expressly stated in the immediately preceding sentence, the Original
Work is provided under this License on an "AS IS" BASIS and WITHOUT
WARRANTY, either express or implied, including, without limitation,
the warranties of non-infringement, merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY OF THE ORIGINAL
WORK IS WITH YOU. This DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY constitutes an essential
part of this License. No license to the Original Work is granted by
this License except under this disclaimer.
8. Limitation of Liability. Under no circumstances and under no legal
theory, whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or
otherwise, shall the Licensor be liable to anyone for any indirect,
special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising
as a result of this License or the use of the Original Work including,
without limitation, damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage,
computer failure or malfunction, or any and all other commercial
damages or losses. This limitation of liability shall not apply to the
extent applicable law prohibits such limitation.
9. Acceptance and Termination. If, at any time, You expressly assented to
this License, that assent indicates your clear and irrevocable
acceptance of this License and all of its terms and conditions. If You
distribute or communicate copies of the Original Work or a Derivative
Work, You must make a reasonable effort under the circumstances to
obtain the express assent of recipients to the terms of this License.
This License conditions your rights to undertake the activities listed
in Section 1, including your right to create Derivative Works based
upon the Original Work, and doing so without honoring these terms and
conditions is prohibited by copyright law and international treaty.
Nothing in this License is intended to affect copyright exceptions and
limitations (including 'fair use' or 'fair dealing'). This License
shall terminate immediately and You may no longer exercise any of the
rights granted to You by this License upon your failure to honor the
conditions in Section 1(c).
10. Termination for Patent Action. This License shall terminate
automatically and You may no longer exercise any of the rights granted
to You by this License as of the date You commence an action,
including a cross-claim or counterclaim, against Licensor or any
licensee alleging that the Original Work infringes a patent. This
termination provision shall not apply for an action alleging patent
infringement by combinations of the Original Work with other software
or hardware.
11. Jurisdiction, Venue and Governing Law. Any action or suit relating to
this License may be brought only in the courts of a jurisdiction
wherein the Licensor resides or in which Licensor conducts its primary
business, and under the laws of that jurisdiction excluding its
conflict-of-law provisions. The application of the United Nations
Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is
expressly excluded. Any use of the Original Work outside the scope of
this License or after its termination shall be subject to the
requirements and penalties of copyright or patent law in the
appropriate jurisdiction. This section shall survive the termination
of this License.
12. Attorneys' Fees. In any action to enforce the terms of this License or
seeking damages relating thereto, the prevailing party shall be
entitled to recover its costs and expenses, including, without
limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred in
connection with such action, including any appeal of such action. This
section shall survive the termination of this License.
13. Miscellaneous. If any provision of this License is held to be
unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent
necessary to make it enforceable.
14. Definition of "You" in This License. "You" throughout this License,
whether in upper or lower case, means an individual or a legal entity
exercising rights under, and complying with all of the terms of, this
License. For legal entities, "You" includes any entity that controls,
is controlled by, or is under common control with you. For purposes of
this definition, "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to
cause the direction or management of such entity, whether by contract
or otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
15. Right to Use. You may use the Original Work in all ways not otherwise
restricted or conditioned by this License or by law, and Licensor
promises not to interfere with or be responsible for such uses by You.
16. Modification of This License. This License is Copyright (c) 2007 Zooko
Wilcox-O'Hearn. Permission is granted to copy, distribute, or
communicate this License without modification. Nothing in this License
permits You to modify this License as applied to the Original Work or
to Derivative Works. However, You may modify the text of this License
and copy, distribute or communicate your modified version (the
"Modified License") and apply it to other original works of authorship
subject to the following conditions: (i) You may not indicate in any
way that your Modified License is the "Transitive Grace Period Public
Licence" or "TGPPL" and you may not use those names in the name of
your Modified License; and (ii) You must replace the notice specified
in the first paragraph above with the notice "Licensed under " or with
a notice of your own that is not confusingly similar to the notice in
this License.
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