From: Steve Bertrand > Chas. Owens wrote: >> On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 22:04, Steve Bertrand <st...@ibctech.ca> wrote: >> snip >>> I like the BSD license, and I am a BSD person, but I'm asking for >>> feedback from the creme-de-la-creme with regards to making code public, >>> so that I can put something in my code to ensure that someone else >>> doesn't decide that they want to "claim" it. >> snip >> >> Given your desire to keep the code free (i.e. not allow people to >> create closed source forks), your best option is the GPLv2[1] or >> GPLv3[2] licenses. Perl itself and many of its modules are dual >> licensed under GPLv1[3] or later license and the Artistic License[4]. >> >> The GPL basically says that you must provide the source code in the >> preferred form to people you give or sell the binaries to (if they ask >> for it). >> >> The Artistic License is similar, but a bit more free (the GPL gets a >> bit hinky when you want to combine GPL and commercial code). > > [snip] > > Thanks Chas, for the response. > > I'm a network engineer, naturally, I hate legal stuff. Given what you've > said, I'll rephrase: > > I wish all of my code be free, ie: I don't care if a commercial entity > uses it for their benefit or not, I don't care if derivatives are used > in commercial products or not, all I really care about is that my > current code is protected so that it can not be "claimed" as anyone > elses, currently... if that makes sense. > > Am I allowed to put in any license I choose into files containing my own > code, so long as I honour all licences within any modules which I may > have included? > > If I do add a license into my files, does that take effect immediately?
You are talking about two different states Steve, and they are mutually exclusive. First off, public domain is not a license, it is a specific condition that is exempt from licensing. It means it is totally free of all copy rights. You simply put a statement into the file that says you release this file into the public domain and it is done. Once you release it, you have given it away and there is no way to get control back. It takes effect as soon as you make the marked file publicly accessible. You can see Bob Stout's Snippets site <www.snippets.org> for examples. If you do want to retain some modicum of control, then you need to select a license. That is when you would get into the discussion between free software and open source. But it sounds like you prefer the public domain option. Bob McConnell -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
