Re: GPL: for this list's review and pleasure
@ 13/05/2004 20:51 : wrote Henning Makholm :
Scripsit Humberto Massa <humberto.massa@almg.gov.br>
Massa's little trying-to-be-comprehensive study about the GPL.
Um, nothing personal, but this study/summary/whatever seems to be
really unreadable. Certainly the GPL itself is easier reading.
No offense taken :-)
Could you try to formulate your next version (if any) such that it
contains some grammatically complete sentences rather than just
isolated fragments of phrases?
This would be counterproducent. The objective of the study is: to
mathematically and tersely define which rights a person who is a
licensee of a GPL'd work has. If I use complete sentences, I will repeat
time after time "the licensee have the right to [[do something]]
provided he also [[does other something]] and/or [[...]]", and that
would be a bigger pain. Maybe indenting? (see below) The secondary
objective is to answer the "Can I do ... ?" type of questions, as the
ones Raul was arguing in the other thread...
If this is trying to be a DFSG summary, then I cannot even find a
conclusion.
It's not a DFSG summary, because I think historically, the DFSG is a
generalization on the GPL and the other considered-free licenses. This
is, IMHO, any incompatibility between the DFSG and GPL v2 is a bug in
the DFSG, not in the GPL. Thus, "the GPL v2 is a DFSG-free license" is a
truism.
Anyway, thanks for reading and giving your opinion. Below is the
indented version:
Massa's little trying-to-be-comprehensive study about the GPL.
© Humberto Massa 2004
This essay is hereby licensed to the reader, granting full rights of
modification and redistribution, provided every derived work of it does:
(1) maintain my copyright notice intact and positioned near to the top
of the text AND (2) mentions the original title AND (3) is distributed
under this same license.
The Thing
---------
(indented version)
Rights granted from an author to an licensee when the former licenses
under the GPL some work to the latter or to a redistributing third
party, who then passes it on to the licensee:
1. making verbatim copy of source code (#1, caput, "You may..."),
SUBJECT TO:
carrying along the copyright notice, disclaimer, and a copy
of the license, ("provided...")
AND
not imposing any further restrictions on the recipients'
excercise of the rights the license grants to him (#6, "You
may not impose...")
2. distributing everything covered by [1] above (#1, caput, "You may
copy and distribute...")
3. charging a fee for the physical copy (#1, paragraph, "You may
charge...")
4. offering warranty protection for a fee ("you may at your option...")
5. modifying any portion of the work THUS making a derived work, (#2,
caput, "You may modify..."),
SUBJECT TO:
causing modified files to carry notices of changing (#2, 'a',
"You must...")
AND
IF
there is an interactive announcement with copyright notice
and/or disclaimer in the original work
THEN
your derived work MUST print the said announcement (#2, 'c',
"If the modified...")
6. distributing any derived works covered by [5] above, (#2, 'b', "You
must cause any work..."),
SUBJECT TO:
licensing your modifications to all third parties under the
GPL ("to be licensed...")
7. licensing under any license you want parts of your modifications
covered by [5] (and [6]) above (#2, 1st paragraph, "If
identifiable..."), THOSE PARTS which can be "reasonably considered
independent and separate works in themselves", i.e., not derived
works from the original work;
SUBJECT TO:
distributing such parts separately ("But when you...")
8. aggregating in the same storage or distribution medium non-derived
works under other, unspecified, licenses (#2, 3rd paragraph, "In
addition, mere aggregation...")
9. copying the original work in executable or object code form, (#3,
caput, "You may copy..."),
SUBJECT TO:
accompanying it with the source (#3, 'a', "...it with the
complete...")
OR
offering to send the source for a non-profit charge valid for
3 years (#3, 'b', "...it with a written...")
OR
IF
you received the work in executable/object code form
AND
are redistributing it non-commercially
THEN
accompanying it with the information as to the referred offer
you received (#3, 'c', "...it with the information...")
OR ALTERNATIVELY
IF
the executable/object code is being distributed by
accessing and copying from a determinated place
THEN
is offered access to the source code from the same place
(#3, 2nd paragraph, "If distribution...")
10. applying the terms of [9] to modified/derived works covered by [5]
and [6] (#3, caput, "(or a work based on it, under section 2)")
11. disclaiming warranties on your derived works, as they are disclaimed
in the text of the GPL.
ALL THESE RIGHTS ARE SUBJECT TO:
no conditions being imposed to the licensee that contradicts
the conditions of the GPL (the SUBJECT TO clauses here and in
[1] to [11] above) or that excuses some of the conditions
(#7, caput, "If, as a consequence...")
Why is the rest of the GPL not in the study?
--------------------------------------------
- #0 just describes what is the scope of the license, or to which works
it applies, and what actions it covers
- ## 1, 2, 3 are covered
- #4 talks about how the GPL terminates itself
- #5 explains why and in which circunstances the licensee is accepting
the terms of the license
- #6 is covered; the license transfer clause is indicated in the heading
of the study items; the "no more restrictions" clause is here AND IT
INVALIDATES LICENSES THAT COMBINE THE GPL WITH MORE RESTRICTIONS; all
works such licensed are undistributable by anyone but the original
copyright holder
- #7, caput, is covered
- #7, 1st paragraph is a "balance of section clause"
- #7, 2nd paragraph and 3rd paragraph are explanations
- #8 gives the original work copyright holder the ability to add ONLY
ONE TYPE OF RESTRICTION in combination with the GPL: the geographic
restriction, SUBJECT BY there is already a restriction on the
distribution of the work for the part of the restricted countries.
Notice that combining additional restrictions with the GPL renders a
work undistributable by anyone but the copyright holder
- #9 and paragraphs say you can license your work "GPL version X or
later"
- #10 explain how to proceed to combine different-licensed works
- ## 11 and 12 are the warranty disclaimer
Quick algorithmic approach to reading the GPL and this study:
bool can_i_do(something) {
if( copyright_law_grants_me_the_right_of(something) )
return true;
if( is_in_rights_granted_from_1_to_11_above(something) &&
the_SUBJECT_TO_clauses_are_satisfied_by(something) )
return true;
return false;
}
2004.May.12 @ Brasil, MG, Belo Horizonte
--
br,M
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