Re: Draft new DFSG - r1.4
Kristoffer.Rose@ENS-Lyon.FR <Kristoffer.Rose@ENS-Lyon.FR> wrote:
> Here is the clause in question:
>
> 6. If you base research on SWI-Prolog and publish on this research,
> you must include appropriate acknowledgements and references to
> SWI-Prolog in your publication.
>
> Only when you publish academic results that *you* based on SWI-Prolog do
> you have to acknowledge.
The problem here is that this is a "use" clause. A "shrinkwrap license".
The way copyright works, once you have a legal copy you can do what you
want with it. The copyright license grants the right to copy.
For example, you can't force someone to owe you money just because
they read a book of yours in a library. [Aside: we're programmers, and
we're used to dealing with imperatives and commands, and our instinctive
treatment of license documents seems to reflect that.]
But, that doesn't mean we shouldn't respect the license -- it does,
after all, reflect something of the author's wishes for the software.
So I think we should put this in non-free and that the maintainer should
contact the author for clarification on this issue.
--
Raul
Reply to: