Harald Geyer wrote: >>>* It is an enumerate style license, which means that >>> - you might forget something >>> - it is water on the mills of those who write wired legal text saying >>> you might do everything, but afterwards try to define what everything is. >>> - it is based upon US copyright law and the rights enumerated therein, >>> but there might exist other juristdictions with additional/other rights. >> >>>Ideally I would put my software in the public domain, but I've been told, >>>that this isn't possible in all jurisdictions (I don't even know about >>>my own), so I thought to circumwent this by licensing it to give the >>>same rights *as* public domain. >> >>First of all, I believe your impression of the MIT license is not >>accurate. Nevertheless, if you really want to release public domain >>software, while still dealing with strange jurisdictions in which such a >>thing does not exist, then I suggest reading >>http://lists.debian.org/debian-x/2004/05/msg00235.html , in particular >>the part starting with "I refuse to assert copyright in this modification.". > > Thanks for that link! This really is a nice approach. > However: Is there no way to say in a legally binding way "everything" > without having to enumerate it? The MIT license states: "to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to [...]". The first part of this is the actual permission grant: there are no restrictions on how you may deal in the software (other than those mentioned as conditions at the end of that long sentence) The second part simply gives some examples of rights that you have, to make it obvious that you have all the rights required for Free Software; I think that is why the license says "including without limitation": your rights include those in the list, but stating the list does not limit you to the rights in that list. Also, be _very_ careful if you decide to change the license as given in that message; you could easily produce something that is ambiguous or non-free. - Josh Triplett
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