Re: mindterm copyright (more opensslish stuff)

[Walter Landry <wlandry@ucsd.edu>]

Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net> wrote:
> Walter Landry wrote:
> > What is the license on the java modifications by Mindbright?  The
> > snippet above doesn't make it clear, but the usual custom is to place
> > modifications under the same license as the original.  In which case
> > mindterm is still undistributable :(
> 
> What "java modifications"? They took C source and wholly rewrote it in
> java. Mindterm's overall license is also the GPL, as I said in the
> original message.

Did Mindterm make any modifications to the code after they learned of
the new licensing conditions?  If so, they might have thought that
they had to put modifications under the new license.  They would have
been mistaken, but it wouldn't stop them from doing it.  They
obviously made some modification, since the notice is there.

However, considering that it seems they didn't really understand the
problems with GPL incompatibility, and (I assume) they didn't say
anywhere that they were licensing anything under anything but the GPL,
it is reasonable to say that all of the Mindbright's work is under the
GPL.

So mindterm should be fine.

> As I show later the original source is also GPL'd. Retaining the
> copyright of source you modify isn't just custom, it is a requirement.

Well, I was worried that Mindterm had mistakenly licensed it under
something more restrictive.

Regards,
Walter Landry
wlandry@ucsd.edu