Re: Audacity and portaudio

[Brian Thomas Sniffen <bts@alum.mit.edu>]

Matt Brubeck <mbrubeck@cs.hmc.edu> writes:

> Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote:
>
>> If the clause in question is just a request, why do the upstream
>> maintainers need the permission of all contributors to move it aside?
>
> Because the license otherwise requires that "this permission notice"
> (which includes the request in question) must be included verbatim in
> all copies of the software.

Then the request is part of the permission notice, and permission to
distribute the software is contingent on distribution of the author's
views irrespective of the software.  If this were a sentence about
political or religious issues, it would be clearly non-free.

I think a *requirement* to pass on a request to please give something
nice to the author is similarly non-free, but below the threshold at
which it matters.

-- 
Brian Sniffen                                       bts@alum.mit.edu