What will be the licensing policy for future contributions to Strongtalk?

First of all, since this is my first post on the list, let me express my deep 
appreciation for making this software available, for the groundbreaking new 
ideas embodied in it and for the really excellent work that has gone into the 
design and implementation of this software.

But, apart from the exciting new technical possibilities that it opens up, I 
think that now is the time to learn from Squeak's bad example (in the area of 
licences) and not fall into the same trap, i.e. not having from the start a 
licence policy for new contributions to the official distribution.

I am not a lawyer, but it is my understanding of the matter, that the current 
BSD or BSD-style licence only covers what was originally contributed by Sun 
microsystems and modifications of the same. New code written (and possibly 
contributed) by other people do not fall automatically under the same licence 
(insofar as it is really new, i.e. not derived from existant code), because 
it is the intellectual property of the respective writer of the code, and 
this person has the right, by law, to determine its license. If nothing would 
be done in this area, it would mean that over time pieces of code would be 
included in the system who would not fall under the original licence, 
possibly jeopardizing the project from a legal point of view.

Apart from meticulous book-keeping of who contributed what to future releases 
of the system, I think it is highly advisable to make a request of every 
future contributor to the system that he explicitly release his contribution 
under the same terms as the rest of the system (i.e.the BSD licence) before 
it can be included in the distribution.

Regards, Lothar






 
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