[Savannah-hackers] Re: Moving cfengine to savannah: licensing question.

[Hugo Gayosso]

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Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:

>     I have sent an email to the maintainer (Mark) asking to add this
>     clause, but what if he does not want?
> 
> If Mark raises an objection, please tell me and I will talk with him.
> 
> CFENGINE is copyright FSF, so we can change the license if we want to.
> But it would be better to talk with him first and do it delicately.
> 
> Please let me do that job.

I already asked him.

FYI: In the past, I have exchanged a few emails with Mark, submitted
bug reports, patches, suggestions, etc. regarding cfengine.


From: Hugo Gayosso <address@hidden>
Subject: cfengine -> savannah: licensing question.
To: Mark Burgess <address@hidden>
Date: 21 Jan 2003 23:07:37 -0500
Organization: The GNU Project
User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.2

Hello Mark!

I was filling out the application to include cfengine in Savannah, and
I reviewed it as the 'savannah-hackers' would do and I noticed that
'cfengine' is released under the GNU GPL version 2, but does not says
"or later".

I would like to confirm you want explicitly the version 2 of the GNU
GPL.

Specially because 'cfengine' is already part of GNU I recommend to add
the "or later" clause.

- From the GNU GPL FAQ:

Why should programs say "Version 2 of the GPL or any later version"?

    From time to time, at intervals of years, we change the
    GPL--sometimes to clarify it, sometimes to permit certain kinds of
    use not previously permitted, and sometimes to tighten up a
    requirement. (The last change was in 1991.) Using this "indirect
    pointer" in each program makes it possible for us to change the
    distribution terms on the entire collection of GNU software, when
    we update the GPL.

    If each program lacked the indirect pointer, we would be forced to
    discuss the change at length with numerous copyright holders,
    which would be a virtual impossibility. In practice, the chance of
    having uniform distribution terms for GNU software would be nil.

    Suppose a program says "Version 2 of the GPL or any later version"
    and a new version of the GPL is released. If the new GPL version
    gives additional permission, that permission will be available
    immediately to all the users of the program. But if the new GPL
    version has a tighter requirement, it will not restrict use of the
    current version of the program, because it can still be used under
    GPL version 2. When a program says "Version 2 of the GPL or any
    later version", users will always be permitted to use it, and even
    change it, according to the terms of GPL version 2--even after
    later versions of the GPL are available.

    If a tighter requirement in a new version of the GPL need not be
    obeyed for existing software, how is it useful? Once GPL version 3
    is available, the developers of most GPL-covered programs will
    release subsequent versions of their programs specifying "Version
    3 of the GPL or any later version". Then users will have to follow
    the tighter requirements in GPL version 3, for subsequent versions
    of the program.

    However, developers are not obligated to do this; developers can
    continue allowing use of the previous version of the GPL, if that
    is their preference.


This is the blurb recommended:

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
USA.


Let me know your decision.

Greeetings,

- ---------------------------

His reply:

From: address@hidden
Subject: Re: cfengine -> savannah: licensing question.
To: address@hidden
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 08:42:42 +0100 (MET)


ok

- ---------------------------

- -- 
Hugo Gayosso
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