On Jul 14, 2005, at 11:18 AM, Mark Wielaard wrote:
On Thu, 2005-07-14 at 10:17 -0400, Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
I really understand where you are coming from, and really thought
about how to present this, because there is no intent to stir up the
license wars again :) I had just been receiving questions from many
people and organizations, and felt that we should just make it clear.
Of course we need to make things clear.
But these people need to voice their questions and opinions on the
list.
Just like we all do. And then we decide how we want to cooperate with
each other. I would love to discuss and exchange ideas with people
about
core library issues. How to best setup interfaces between the native
platform, runtime and core libraries. And I saw some suggestions
that I
was about to comment on. But clearly if we are going the ASLv2 or the
high-way route I won't participate in that (or at least not through
this
list).
Ok - before we jump to this conclusion, can I ask why? Can we come
up with some use-cases that illustrate the downside for you? Is it
just "I won't grant a copyright license for code under AL2"?
What are the concerns of these people and organizations you have
spoken
with? And how can we solve those concerns so that all participants can
freely exchange their knowledge so that all projects can adopt that
code?
The concern I heard was "what are the rules behind contributions made
on the mailing list - it isn't clear". So I just spelled it out.
Why can't you freely exchange knowledge under these terms? Any code
you contribute is some that you can put under any other license as
well, and we certainly can encourage others to do the same. I mean,
I assume that it would be a rare case, and it would be cases where
you take an active interest in the code...
You said that you wanted this policy to be an example for the rest of
Apache.
The example is the explicit statement. Apache lists operate with
this as the understanding. Given our sensitivity to IP issues,
clarity is good.
Lets do that. Lets make a policy that means contributions can be
shared with projects like GNU Classpath, GCC, Kaffe, CACAO, JamVM,
etc.
It seems that is what a lot of people have been wanting for a long
time.
To build a bridge between GNU and Apache. And that is why we started
this Harmony effort in the first place.
Any contribution *can* be shared with any other project. If those
other projects don't like AL2, the contributor can be approached for
a license under GPL, for example.
I certainly will advocate a policy that any code coming into our SVN
come through JIRA, and we can certainly suggest that along with AL2,
contributors also grant [elsewhere] a copyright license under another
license that hasn't been interpreted to be in conflict with the GPL.
I assume that would solve the problem? I'm interested in finding
ways that anything that's contributed here is usable also by other
projects, even GPL-ed projects. That costs us nothing, and has great
upside for the whole community.
I proposed a couple of ways to do that in my post. You propose that it
will all be under ASLv2 and closed off for these projects. How do we
resolve this conflict? Why are my suggestions not acceptable to you
and
the many people and organizations you talked to.
Lets start by discussing that in the open.
Ok - first, we figure out what the problem is here on the mail list.
For anything but code samples, there should be no issue?
For code samples, we want to take them in via JIRA, for tracking
reasons. Now, given that we're rather attached to the Apache License
here at the ASF, I'm not sure we wish to tangle with getting dual
licenses for contributions *here*.
However, that said, I would certainly encourage that the code also be
donated by the copyright holder under a mutually acceptable license
for use w/ GPL, although it would be done elsewhere.
All of the above is hypothetical - me thinking out loud, at the end
of a long day, and I may have another opinion or a different idea in
the morning. However, I do want to discuss options...
Lets illustrate with use cases?
geir
--
Geir Magnusson Jr +1-203-665-6437
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
