On Thu, 22 Feb 2001, Jon Smirl wrote: > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > There is a problem with ignoring the license issues, the license issues > > are a real issue for a lot of people on this list. > > NSPR and XPCOM are already released under GPL, NPL and MPL with terms that > you can pick the one you want. I doubt that the Mozilla lawyers are going > to deal with also releasing it under the Apache license until there is real > chance that it will be adopted. After rereading MPL and the Apache license I > can't even see a significant difference expect that MPL stops people from > contributing code containing submarine patents (like Unisys and GIF). > > Apache and MPL are both open source, non-viral, royalty free, commercially > redistributable licenses. I find it disappointing that a large piece of > excellently code (NSPR and XPCOM) could be ignored because of religion over > which open source license is the best.
Jon, please understand that this isn't religion over license issues. Unfortunately, licenses are a matter of law, not opinion. There are people in this group who work for businesses that rely on the Apache license. When I worked for IBM (a little over a year ago, so things may have changed), IBM had a problem with some of the NPL or MPL (I can't remember which). There are IBMers here who are very big contributors. Moving to NSPR might mean that those contributors could no longer contribute back. That is a bad thing IMHO. I would really like one of the people who really understands the licensing issues to speak up here. I know Bill Stoddard has expressed concern in the past. I also know, and this is not meant to give offense, that Bill can be a bit paranoid when it comes to licenses. That is a part of his job, and he is very good at it. If we can convince all of the APR contributors that the NPL or MPL are okay to use, then we can move forward regardless of the licensing issues. However, the rest of the message still must be dealt with. This won't be fast to happen. I personally will be -1 for moving Apache over to NSPR at this point. We have done too much to get it to APR, and making that change will delay the release far too much IMHO. Ryan _______________________________________________________________________________ Ryan Bloom [EMAIL PROTECTED] 406 29th St. San Francisco, CA 94131 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
