On Wednesday, 08/05/2009 at 12:35 EDT, Kris Buelens <kris.buel...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I doubt it would be legal for me to zap EAGRTPRC into DMSRTPRC in the compiled > MAILIT CEXEC. And as I do ship MAILIT in source format too, I did not compile > MAILIT with the SLINE option, consequently, MAILIT CEXEC cannot be executed by > the Alternate REXX Library. (usual disclaimers apply... neither I nor my employer give legal advice to others.) What you may or may not do to someone's code/executables is governed by the license (I sound like a broken record..hey..kids don't know what that means any more!). If it isn't mentioned in the license, then you have to fall back on international copyright law (e.g. Berne Convention) in which all rights are reserved to the copyright owner unless disclaimed. Kris wrote Mailit while residing in Belgium, so Belgium copyright laws apply, and other signatory countries agree to protect those rights. MAILIT on the VM Download Library is covered by http://www.vm.ibm.com/download/license.html. Anyone MAY "download, use, reproduce, display, and distribute" what they find in the library. They MAY NOT - Remove copyright notices - Redistribute a derivative work - Decompile or disassemble binaries - Charge for stuff they get from the library. The copyright owner is free to do as he or she pleases, of course. Where local laws and the license agreement come into conflict, local law applies since you may not enter into a contract that violates the law. All of the above means that you can't get meaningful advice on what you legally can or cannot do with someone else's property unless you talk to an attorney. All of this is so vague because we separate morality from legality. I always say, "Never let a lawyer stop you from doing what is Right." (Unless he tells that the Right Thing To Do is illegal, of course.) (sigh) But the good news, as Kris notes, is that he includes the source for Mailit and so no sleep need be lost over the issue. :-) Alan Altmark Speaker for himself
