Re: IBM Jikes license
Raul Miller writes:
> However, this whole situation does indicate that "openness" or
> "freedom" exist on a spectrum, and aren't black and white issues.
What if IBM had left the patent clauses out entirely? Would we not then be
saying that the license was clearly DFSG free? Yet such a license would
grant *fewer* rights than does this one.
> For better or worse, we have a proposed re-write of the DFSG being
> considered (and it's been being worked on for quite a while).
And if we are lucky will continue to be worked on forever.
> This rewrite would indicate that software is not DFSG if the copyright
> holder is also the patent holder and in some way restricts the
> distribution of the software based on the patents.
Perhaps Debian should have a patent policy document that is distinct from
the DFSG.
--
John Hasler
john@dhh.gt.org (John Hasler)
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI
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