Re: SRFI copyright license

[Jakob Bohm <jbj@image.dk>]

On Wed, Dec 24, 2003 at 02:16:45PM -0800, Don Armstrong wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Dec 2003, Brian T. Sniffen wrote:
> > I strongly disagree: the license is just saying that you can't
> > publish a derivative work of SRFI X as SRFI X, and are otherwise free
> > to derive works. 
> 
> Could you step through your logic of that, without relying on the FAQ?

IANAL, TINLA, this is academic debate only.

I am not Mr. Sniffen, but here is my idea of how this *could* be
interpreted as a free license.  The main trick is to distinguish
between the original full text SRFI ("the document") and the
free software (document that excerpts or derives from the
document).

Step 1: Someone includes (all or part of) the SRFI in an actual
   scheme implementation (buggy or not).

Because this Scheme implementation (as a whole) is a document
that assists in the implementation of the SRFI it can excerpt
from the SRFI without limitation.  Because the permission to do
so is explicit and does not rely on fair use claims, a 100%
excerpt is OK.

Step 2: Someone (possibly the same person) modifies the part of
   the scheme implementation that came from the SRFI to fix an
   implementation bug or adapt to the interfaces of the rest of
   the implementation.

This still assists in the implementation of the SRFI and is
still permitted.  The changed parts are either derived from the
SRFI (which is explicitly permitted) or no longer derived from
it (in which case that part of the SRFI is no longer excerpted
into that implementation assisting document).

Step 3: Someone (possibly the same person) modifies the part of
   the scheme implementation that came from the SRFI to
   deliberately no longer implement what the SRFI specifies.

This case is more tricky.  One way around it may be to add
comments like
   // SRFI x specifies the following behavior ... which is not
   //    as good as the following behavior, which this program
   //    uses even though it is not in accordance with SRFI x.
And claim that this makes the text an explanation of the SRFI.

Another way is to claim that the SRFI license explicitly permits
placing the derived document (the original implementation that
copied the SRFI mostly verbatim) under a different, directly
DFSG free license such as BSD or GPL, and that once this is
done, the SRFI license cannot block further modification under
the new license.

Jakob


-- 
This message is hastily written, please ignore any unpleasant wordings,
do not consider it a binding commitment, even if its phrasing may
indicate so. Its contents may be deliberately or accidentally untrue.
Trademarks and other things belong to their owners, if any.