Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!sco!seanf From: seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan) Newsgroups: comp.sources.d Subject: Re: While we're flaming about copyrights... Message-ID: <6071@scolex.sco.COM> Date: 7 May 90 06:26:23 GMT References: <=X833-ggpc2@ficc.uu.net> Sender: news@sco.COM Reply-To: seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan) Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. Lines: 40 In article <=X833-ggpc2@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: >... anyone care to make suggestions for improvements to, or point out problems >in, the following? Just a couple... > * If you redistribute the source to this program, or a derivitive of that > * source, you must include this copyright notice intact. I would like to see a requirement that, if only a binary is shipped, that the source to be included. This causes, say, libraries to be distributed with *your* stuff in source format. Well, an ammendment: not necessarily required, but made available (a la the FSF). > * If the system > * this source is distributed with is under a stricter license (such as > * a commercial license, the typical freeware "no commercial use" license, > * or the FSF copyleft) then you must provide the original source under the > * original terms. I'm not sure how to phrase it, but I would put in something about, if a modified version of is distributed, then either the original source, or the source used to produce the binary version of , falls under the terms described above. This lets people distribute improvements, but for those who choose to keep their changes proprietary, still distributes the original. Also, if only the original is distributed, then the way now behaves differently must be doc'd. This invalidates all of the arguments RMS has come up with (that I've seen) as to why the copyleft is a virus (e.g., 'people can turn all of gcc into a library and then not have to provide source'). -- -----------------+ Sean Eric Fagan | "It's a pity the universe doesn't use [a] segmented seanf@sco.COM | architecture with a protected mode." uunet!sco!seanf | -- Rich Cook, _Wizard's Bane_ (408) 458-1422 | Any opinions expressed are my own, not my employers'.