Re: why is graphviz package non-free?
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Brian Thomas Sniffen <bts@alum.mit.edu> writes:
> Matthew Garrett <mgarrett@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:
>
>> Licenses that require people to provide more freedoms than the DFSG
>> requires should never be non-free, even if those freedoms are only
>> provided to certain people. Free software isn't about fairness or moral
>> justification. It's about being able to modify software and pass those
>> modifications on to someone else.
>
> How about a license which says "You may copy, modify, or distribute
> this program, but only if you publish all your other works under the
> terms of this very license." Is that free? It looks like your
> definition includes it, but I find it abhorrent.
That sounds rather unrealistic. Surely it would fail DFSG #9, since
the licence is clearly contaminating other software.
>>>> Software under the BSD license is free. Software that is sometimes under
>>>> one and sometimes under another ought to still be free.
>>>
>>> It is. But software under a "you get GPL-like rights to my parts of
>>> this thing we're building together, and I get BSD-like rights to your
>>> parts" license is not free.
>>
>> Why not? Which freedoms does it impact upon?
>
> The freedom to make and distribute modifications without paying the
> author. Becoming part of a commons is not a payment.
You haven't lost the right to distribute...
When I submit a patch to be included in a GNU project, I am required
by the FSF to assign my copyright to them in order for it to be
included. This requirement does not impact upon my freedom: I can
distribute my patch and modified work without any additional
restrictions; the restriction only applies if I want my work including
upstream.
Inclusion in upstream releases is /not/ a right. Freedom to
redistribute your changes /is/.
Regards,
Roger
- --
Roger Leigh
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