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

Yes, I am already aware of this issue.  I have been investigating
whether a simple attachement of the license to the contributions is
all that is needed, or whether an explicit assignment of copyright is
necessary, as apparently some projects do.

Don't worry, no code will sneak into the project without this issue
being dealt with!
-Dave

--- In [email protected], Lothar Schenk <Lothar.Schenk@...>
wrote:
>
> 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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