Re: Bug#143063: acknowledged by developer (Bug#143063: fixed in mmix 1:0.0.20020615-3)
On Mon, Oct 07, 2002 at 11:09:30PM +0100, Julian Gilbey wrote:
>
> As someone else explained (check the bug log for who; sorry, I don't
> remember): the key piece is that there is no permission in the license
> for modified code to be DISTRIBUTED. That's where the problem appears
> to actually lie.
That is the conclusion we get the other time in addition to the fact,
nothing is stated about binary (re)distribution.
But thinking about the license and the mmix "program" itself, I
believe the author just didn't thought about it as a program but as
documentation. I think the spirit of the license talks about the
source files as the final object, not considering that they can
actually be compiled.
Does anybody else think mmix could be free documentation but, as
now, it is non-free software?
BTW, I think if we want to get somewhere, we should ask Knuth itself
or somebody near him and involved in the mmix development to clarify
the license and what can be done with modified binaries
redistribution. Maybe somebody with better legal knowledge than me
could add the key points to the original license, so we can send it as
a suggestion.
Pablo S. Torralba
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