Re: off-topic discussion about permissions and promises
Scripsit Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS <edmundo@rano.org>
> Do you have any arguments to support your claim that a licence is a
> promise to give permission rather than the permission itself?
I think this is just idle word-play. One could also say that it is a
promise that the permission will stay valid.
> Also, how do you explain the way that licences are worded? Typially
> yhey talk about "permission" and "permitted", but they don't mention
> promises.
The way I read the GPL it is clearly a promise: I promise that *if*
you agree to my conditions about, e.g., not demanding an NDA from
people you distribute the code to, *then* - and not before - I will
give you my permission to copy.
Can you find any other sense to make of GPL#5?
--
Henning Makholm "Make it loud, make it complicated, make it long,
and make it up if you have to, but it'll work all right."
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