Re: non-English copyright
hi,
here are a few more thoughts. i'd ask for the original japanese licences as
well but i'm afraid i'm not nearly fluent enough to be useful (yet ;p).
> Atsuhito> Unless you delete the necessary files or modify them you
> Atsuhito> can distribute and/or use freely.
>
> I'm not sure what the original Japanese was here, but this doesn't
> make very much sense in English. I think this is what you meant,
> though:
>
> "You can distribute and use this software freely as long as you do
> not delete or modify the files contained within."
"You may freely use and distribute verbatim copies of this software." is
more compact and standard licence terminology.
> Atsuhito> If you find bugs and you need to modify the program to
> Atsuhito> fix them, please contact the author. If you add new
> Atsuhito> functionality to the program please contact the author
> Atsuhito> to confirm where you modify and after modified please
> Atsuhito> notify the author where you modified.
>
> The second sentence should be more like:
>
> "If you add new functionality to the program, please contact
> the author with information about what you modified and where."
"notify the author of your modifications" is again more compact and natural
sounding (to me at least).
> Atsuhito> You can not distribute the modified version to prevent
> Atsuhito> the disorder with derivative versions.
>
> Here, I would use "confusion" instead of "disorder", and I would
> put the reason why you may not distribute the modified version
> first:
>
> "To prevent confusion with derivative versions, you may not distribute
> a modified version of this program."
i would switch the order of the sentences too, and pluralize 'version'. also
i'm not sure, but i think the word "derivative" is misleading here. if you
mean that you want to prevent confusion between the original and modified
versions, i would use:
"To prevent confusion with original versions, you may not distribute
modified versions of this software. If you add new functionality to the
program, please notify the author of your modifications."
> Atsuhito> 1. foo is provided "AS IS" and any express or implied
> Atsuhito> warranties are disclaimed. In no event shall the author
> Atsuhito> and the organization the author belongs to, be liable
> Atsuhito> for any damages arising in any way out of the use of
> Atsuhito> foo. 2. You can redistribute foo freely provided you
> Atsuhito> retain this copyright. 3. You can modify foo and use it
> Atsuhito> freely. But you can not distribute the modified version
> Atsuhito> without the permission of the author. You must contact
> Atsuhito> the author.
a few nitpicks:
in #1, change "the author and the organization" to "the author, or the
organization"
in #2, you probably mean "as long as you retain this copyright notice and
list of permissions" as the licence is technically not part of the
copyright.
> Atsuhito> You can contact the author at <someone@some.where.jp>
> Atsuhito> when you report the bug and/or the modification.
>
> I would combine this sentence with the previous one ('you must
> contact the author') and say:
>
> "You must contact the author at <someone@some.where.jp> to report
> any bugs and/or modifications."
I would even combine it with the sentence before:
"You may not distribute modified versions of this software; please contact
the author <someone@some.where.jp> to report any bugs and/or modifications."
> "You may distribute 'foo' and 'foo1' freely unless you modify them."
"You may freely distribute verbatim copies of 'foo' and 'foo1'."
> Atsuhito> There is no problem to separate "foo2" and "foo3" for
> Atsuhito> they are independent from the rest.
>
> "You may distribute 'foo2' and 'foo3' separately from the other
> programs, as they are independent of the rest."
this is ok, but is it really necessary? it looks like i would have
permission to distribute foo2 and foo3 along with the copyright notice
anyway.
> Atsuhito> You can distribute the modified version if you include
> Atsuhito> the original copyright and if the program shows the
> Atsuhito> message which tell the users the program is modified,
> Atsuhito> for example, shows the special version number. You can
> Atsuhito> use freely a part of the source files.
>
> "You may distribute a modified version of this program if you include
> the original copyright and the modified program displays a message
> informing the user that the program is modified -- for example,
> showing a special version number. You may use the source files
> freely as a whole or in part."
"You may distribute modified versions of this program, provided that this
copyright notice and licence are preserved, and that the modified version
displays a message informing the user that the program is modified -- for
example, by displaying a special version number. The source files may be
used freely, in whole or in part."
Also, I wonder about the necessity of the last sentence. Permission to
modify the program is equivalent to permission to use any part of it.
Hope this helps,
--p. (ps: aside to ben: gene skonicki says hi.)
"For a price I'd do about anything, except pull the trigger: for that I'd
need a pretty good cause" -- Queensryche, "Revolution Calling"
PGP 5.0 key (0xE024447449) at http://cif.rochester.edu/~jpt/pubkey.txt
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