Re: a Free Platform License?
On Thursday, November 24, "Josselin Mouette" <joss@debian.org> wrote:
> Actually, it is already widely accepted that the system
> libraries exception does not apply to packages in Debian,
> so a license that would be the same as the GPL but without
> this exception wouldn't make a single difference for us.
I presume it'd still apply... but be satisfied because Debian
already includes the source code for system libraries.
> But it would make the hell of a difference for
> Android/OSX/Windows, of course...
I'm not sure how much of a difference it'd actually make
to the majority of applications out there since they are
already so well abstracted from the operating system.
Even so, it doesn't have to be perfect. I presume that
this restriction might effectively prevent application
level installers on proprietary platforms, for example.
> And because of that, overall I don't think it's a bad idea.
The big downside that I see it would be a copyleft that
is incompatible with current generation of GPL licenses
due to the additional restriction. It may be a bit tricky
to get correct -- I think simply removing the mention of
System Libraries might be inadequate, you may have to amend
to explicitly *include* them in the Corresponding Source.
> But you'd have to convince a lot of people to use it, because
> it only makes sense when applied to a killer application, and
> you can’t know by advance which ones will be.
If a free license that effectively discriminated against
proprietary platforms existed, applications would follow,
if only because it opens up dual-licensing options that
are currently not viable.
Best,
Clark
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