Re: Yet another license: Cygnus eCos Public License
jdassen@wi.leidenuniv.nl writes:
> Currently on /. : http://slashdot.org/articles/98/09/28/1130214.shtml
>
> Cygnus announced a new OS for embedded systems, under yet another license,
> the Cygnus eCos Public License
> (http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/license.html), based on the NPL.
>
> Can someone please go over it, and determine if it is DFSG-free, and if so,
> whether it's better or worse than the NPL from Debian's viewpoint (e.g.
> mixing with (L)GPLed code)?
I'd contend that it's got the same problem RMS complained about in an
early version of the Netscape NPL. Namely, anyone who makes a
modification must make the source of that modification available to
Cygnus as well as to whomever they give the modified binary to. This
prohibits, for example, experimenting with a modification with a few
friends before releasing the real version.
On the other hand, unlike the early version of the Netscape NPL, this
license only requires that source of the modifications get to those
who get the binaries and to Cygnus, not to the public at large. Also
note that although RMS's concept of "free software" and the concept of
free software embodied in the DFSG are intended to be remarkably
similar, if not identical, RMS is not an authority on what is and
isn't DFSG free.
I was going to post this to slashdot, but it died after I followed the
link to the license.
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