Re: EDICT, GPL
On Wed, Apr 24, 2002 at 06:39:05PM +1000, Jim Breen wrote:
> I've seen that comment which Glenn Rosenthal added on the JFC page after
> he quotes the GPL text. He actually says ".. without the explicit permission
> of the respective copyright holder(s)."
That's implicit, anyway. (Copyright holders can always grant permission.)
It's a kind of restriction that would make me think twice about contributing
to it, unless it was done for some unavoidable reason, such as for using the
EDICT, which isn't the case. (I prefer donating time to free software, which
this isn't.)
> Up to a point. The problem with putting a data file under the GPL is that
> a dataset is probably far enough off from the program source of a program
> that accesses it that the "you must release the source" dictum may not
> be supportable.
Well, it might be mostly irrelevant if the form it's normally used is the
same as its source. When it's relevant, I'd think it's always supportable.
It's moot here, anyway, if the licensing of some of the data is out of
your hands.
> The issue came up years ago with RMS, and has been touched on a few times
> since. The problem is that a lot of contributors provided data which was
> their IP on the condition of no commercial exploitation. I have got
> agreement that that be extended to the sort of non-exclusive licence for
> commercial use.
Well, that's unfortunate, but probably unavoidable if some of that
contributed data is published elsewhere.
A quick question about SKIP data in the kanjidic: The license page
says both that you have permission to include it, and that
"SKIP data must be protected from illegal copying and distribution,
using such measures encryption. The data must be encrypted if it is to
be used in any kind of product, including commercial products, software
and freeware." (in the SKIP license.)
Is this requirement waived? I'd imagine that if he allowed the data to be
included, he's no longer interested in preventing illegal distribution by
"encryption". (It's obviously not encrypted within kanjidic.) Seems
like a fairly useless requirement, anyway.
--
Glenn Maynard
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