> I've been thinking about the legal blurbs in the source files, the > most permissive being the one in, for example, src/bin/chio/parse.y > > I feel it's a bit silly to bother with them, since they have no > technical significance. But perhaps it's worthwhile, every once > in a while, to ponder the real world and its constraints.
No. You are wrong. That is a legal document that is well understood. In this case, it is a slightly modified ISC copyright rights granting statement. > The motivation for authors to put blurbs in their work must be some > kind of fear. The nature of this fear can be guessed from the > wording of the blurb. The authors hope that the blurb affords them > protection. No. It is a copyright statement that GRANTS RIGHTS. If we don't have that there, then noone gets a collection of grants which they depend on now. > I wonder if the following language would provide the same level of > protection or better: > > We, the authors of this work, are giving it away to you, dear > reader (and to everyone else), as an opportunity, not as a > service. Do with it whatever you want. We welcome your > contributions, and we owe you nothing. > > I imagine that putting this one in place of the orthodox blurb would > be an inspiring demonstration of resistance to fear. Surely no > judge could misunderstand its intention. > > Please discuss. Discuss what? Only one thing is obvious. You don't understand the history of copyright treaties and per-country copyright laws that impliment those treaties on a regional level, nor what we are legally trying to give people. How about you just leave this to people who have been dealing with this for years? Your blurb does not say let anyone use the software in the way we intend. Trust us. We know what we are doing.
