Re: software licensing

[Derek Noonburg <derekn@aimnet.com>]

fog@irfmn.mnegri.it wrote:

> 1. The patches can be distributed applied to the source or should
> stay in separate .diff files (this is not a problem for the DFSG).

The intent was that patches can be distributed either way.  I'll work
on clarifying this.

> 2. What happens if somebody puts xpdf on a CD and sells it?
> It is feasible?

Yes - as long as the license conditions are met (distribution includes
documentation, etc.), I don't care if someone charges for the CD.  The
idea is that, if they distribute binaries, they have to be compiled
from the original source or from publicly available patches.  This
way, no one can distribute binaries compiled from non-free source.

Is this unclear from the license?  Can you suggest a way to clarify
it?

Raul Miller <rdm@test.legislate.com> wrote:

> In addition to the problems Fredrico brought up (unless you've explicitly
> granted permission, permission hasn't been granted), you've not defined
> some of the terms you've used -- and I'm not sure you want to live
> with the default definitions.  For example, it's probably the case
> that posting the patches on a bulletin board at city hall makes it
> "publically available".

Yeah, I wasn't sure about the "publicly available" part either.  I
could say something like "patches must be placed on a publicly
accessibly web or ftp server".  I wonder if this would be too
limiting?  Do you have any other ideas?

GPL requires anyone who distributes binaries to also provide the
source to *any* requester for cost of media.  (Correct me if I got
this wrong.)  This seems like an excessive burden to me.

I also considered saying something like "must be placed on web/ftp OR
a copy must be sent to the original author".  The idea is that if the
author of the patches really doesn't want to (or can't) distribute
them, then I can distribute them myself (assuming they're worthwhile).
But this also has problems -- what happens if I quit maintaining xpdf,
for example?  (Not that I'm expecting to quit anytime soon, but I
think some people might not like this clause because of that issue.)

Thanks for the comments - like I said, I'm trying to shake out the
bugs before I start using this thing.

- Derek