On Sat, 07 May 2005 13:54:22 -0600 Tres Melton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> babbled:
(B
(B> But If the E developers import your code into a BSD project then won't
(B> it become BSD? Otherwise that seems like a good plan.
(B
(Bcorrect - thus the exception clause is kind of pointless :) you may as well go
(Bbsd to start :)
(B
(B> > well you could make them GPL - but mej can just not accept the patches as
(B> > they would taint eterm's existing license making it gpl. bsd guarantees
(B> > that THAT code stays open - but if people can steal it - if i want to
(B> > "steal" that code and put it into some closed proprietary project - you
(B> > would never know. it can be reformatted, and at the end of the day its an
(B> > algorithm. there are only so many ways you can write a fast routine to do a
(B> > fairly narrow scoped task. if that was the case someone would have claimed
(B> > copyright infringement on for (i = 0; i < n; i++) a long time ago :)
(B>
(B> I take your point about code theft. It is a good one but there are
(B> exceptions to that. What's that guy's name in Germany that runs
(B> gpl-violations.org, Harald Welte? He also wrote most of the IP tables
(B> code. He has gotten a number of companies to comply with the GPL and
(B> post their code. Every once in awhile hell does freeze over. :-/
(B
(Boh i know - my point is - it depends what the core "smartness" of the code is -
(Bif its really just a faster alpha blending routine - the moment the code is
(Bopen you let out the real secrets. the loop structure it generic - but the
(Bnitty details of how its done are out. a lot of those commands could be
(Bre-ordered with no effect (ie i +=1, j += 1 can be j = j + 1, i = i + 1 with no
(Bill effects and well - its not copied anymore - proving copyright infringement
(Bon sufficiently modified code is nigh impossible - given the code is small and
(Bits general structure is generic (loop through pixels form top left to bottom
(Bright doing operation X on them from source to destination buffer - that's so
(Binsanely generic), that the only real MEAT of the code is the algorithm to do
(Bthe operation - and that is simply expressed explicitly in your code).
(Bbasically i can read the code - go "aha - thats how to do it" - and type it out
(Bagain myself - not even copy and paste - re-order some things -
(B customise to my own loop structures and input/output variable names and bingo
(B- new code - copied from your old, but u'll never have a snowballs chance in
(Bhell of trying to enforce violation :) if the code is large and complex with
(Bvery unique characteristics (ala ip tables as part of the kernel) its easy to
(Bfind, identify and prove infringement :)
(B
(B> If for(i = 0; i < n; i++) was patented would it be owned by Brian
(B> Kerningham or Dennis Ritchie?
(B
(Bthe patent would long since have expired :) but copyright is not really
(Bpossible as its a generic construct - like "i go home" a generic english
(Bsentence construct. :)
(B
(B> > anyway - i can understand what you mean - but even if it were gpl you
(B> > couldn't practically find instances of it in closed code :(. you will know
(B> > your code will be public and free in eterm's code and available and able to
(B> > be re-used with very few restrictions, but not more limitations than that.
(B> >
(B> > basically if someone submits patches to code - they are implicitly agreeing
(B> > to the existing copyright license unless they ask for a change or
(B> > re-license their patches and code. if they are licensed differently the
(B> > chances of them being used drop dramatically to somewhere about 0 :(
(B>
(B> As I stated, Eterm is Mej's baby and he can have my modifications anyway
(B> that he wants them. That doesn't mean that I can't hope for a license
(B> change to the GPL though. My SSE2 modifications were originally
(B
(Ba license change would require all copyright holders agree (listed in AUTHORS).
(Bso changing to GPL is a lot harder than you licensing as bsd :) i get your
(Bpoint - definitely! i guess i'm a pragmatist when it comes to licensing - if
(Byou open the code... you have made it all fair game. anyone can read it and go
(B"oh that's how its done" and trivially re-produce the important parts, without
(Bcopying. that's how i learnt to code - i scour the world for examples and read
(Bmanual pages... i haven't copied code - i have learnt the "trick" and applied
(Bit :)
(B
(B> patterned after the MMX extensions by Willem Monsuwe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
(B
(Bi see you did a similar thing then :)
(B
(B> anyway. They were changed to run on x86_64, use all 128 bits of the
(B> SSE2 %xmm registers, and converted to inline assembly to avoid problems
(B> with a changing register allocator in gcc. They are hardly recognizable
(B> now and if I worked for M$ Mr. Bill would claim ownership but I'm coding
(B> for the benefit of everyone and I believe in giving credit where credit
(B> is due. Cheers to Willem! ;-) I still wish there was someway to
(B
(Bindeed. i think its better to just license liberally and hope to hell people
(B"play nice" and "do the right thing". :)
(B
(B> guarantee that my work wouldn't end up in the hands of a morally
(B> impaired company without at least getting a paycheck. I might be old
(B> fashioned but I like to get kissed before I get screwed. Your points
(B> are well taken but I still don't want to be the one to write M$' next
(B> TCP/IP stack.
(B
(Bagreed - but in all reality - you dont even need source for that. disassembling
(Bbinary and reverse engineering from there is not impossible - hell how do you
(Bthink most software copy protection is "cracked" :) it's been done for decades
(Bnow. even in binary your code isn't safe :(
(B
(B--
(B------------- Codito, ergo sum - "I code, therefore I am" --------------
(BThe Rasterman (Carsten Haitzler) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
$BMg9%B?(B [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(BTokyo, Japan ($BEl5~(B $BF|K\(B)
(B
(B
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