On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 3:59 AM, MJ Ray
<mjr@phonecoop.coop> wrote:
Andrew Harris wrote:
> I am the author of a new Free Software license called the Chicken Dance
> License. It is a BSD-based license that offers extra hilarity over most, if
> not all, other Free Software licenses. This new legal infrastructure that I
> seek to create will result in less hair-pulling and teeth gnashing, and more
> out-loud proclamations of "LOLOL".
I feel that making a new licence will only make people laugh if it is
simple and funny, like WTFPL or No Problem Bugroff. This one is not
simple and IMO not funny either: it's like a long drawn-out retelling
of a joke which was only mildly amusing the first time. And can't you
hear the teeth gnashing at you for this act of unnecessary licence
proliferation?
The legalese is as boring to read as any, yes. If you weigh it just by the silliness of the legalese, it will come behind most commercial EULAs. It is our hope that the silliness should come as a result of using the license. Can you imagine if libpng decided to use CDL?
Debian is an operating system. Don't personify it. It hates that ;-)
Then why do you give it names like "Lenny"? :P
What software is under this licence? Will it ever be in debian?
As the name suggests, the Debian Free Software Guidelines are about
software, not licences.
Understood. Please note that v0.1 is hardly a final draft. I only gave it a version yesterday.
However, people are taking the plunge and using CDL for their works. The CDL repo has 20 followers, all from the past 24 hours. At least two projects have chosen to adopt v0.1. Given, neither of the two of which I am aware are software that Debian would -- er, that would be packaged for Debian (personal website source code and a documentation veiwer for OS X), but it is a gesture of support.
A tidied-up wdiff of v0.1 and http://www.debian.org/misc/bsd.license
follows. I suggest that it is trivially impossible for software under
this licence to meet the DFSG because it is basically postcardware
(the video is like a postcard, with added lawyerbombs because of the
difficulty of quantifying half the persons affiliated - fails DFSG 1),
plus there is a restriction on the field of use (around an abitrary
word - fails DFSG 6) which might also cause contamination of other
software (fails DFSG 9).
We are considering dropping the plinth clause, yes. "Half" is kind of silly, I suppose, but I disagree with the postcardware statement. Postcardware is a restriction upon use of the software. Use this, send me a postcard. CDL only puts this restriction on binary-only distribution without source code.
I find your DFSG 9 comment interesting, nobody on the OSI list pointed that out. Could you please elaborate? How does CDL contaminate?
My advice: switch to WTFPL or No Problem Bugroff.
---- BEGIN 644 WDIFF --
Copyright (c) [-2000 <SOMEONE>] {+<YEAR>, <OWNER>}
All rights reserved.
{+Chicken Dance License v0.1}
{+http://supertunaman.com/cdl/ }
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials
provided with the distribution.
3. [-The] {+Neither the} name of the [-author] {+<ORGANIZATION>
nor the names of its contributors} may be used to endorse or
promote products derived from this software without specific
prior written permission.
{+4. An entity wishing to redistribute in binary form or include this
software in their product without redistribution of this software's
source code with the product must also submit to these conditions
where applicable: * For every thousand (1000) units distributed, at
least half of the employees or persons affiliated with the product
must listen to the "Der Ententanz" (AKA "The Chicken Dance") as
composed by Werner Thomas for no less than two (2) minutes * For every
twenty-thousand (20000) units distributed, two (2) or more persons
affiliated with the entity must be recorded performing the full
Chicken Dance, in an original video at the entity's own expense, and a
video encoded in OGG Theora format, at least three (3) minutes in
length, must be submitted to <OWNER>, provided <OWNER>'s contact
information. The dance must be based upon the instructions on how to
do the Chicken Dance that you should have received with this
software. If you have not received instructions on how to do the
Chicken Dance, then the dance must be chicken-like in nature. * Any
employee or person affiliated with the product must be prohibited from
saying the word "plinth" in public at all times, as long as
distribution of the product continues. }
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE [-AUTHOR ``AS IS''] {+COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"} AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE [-AUTHOR] {+COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR
CONTRIBUTORS} BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF
USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED
AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. {+<ORGANIZATION> ACCEPTS NO LIABILITY
FOR ANY INJURIES OR EXPENSES SUSTAINED IN THE ACT OF FULFILLING ANY
OF THE ABOVE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, ACCIDENTAL OR OTHERWISE. }
---- END ----
--
MJR/slef
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