Re: JNIPort - is there anyone willing to maintain it?

Hi Jeremy,

good to hear that Cincom Smalltalk is available for personal use again!

However, there are three rules in the Personal Use License which make it =
impossible to use CST for developing or maintaining any non-profit open =
source project like JNIPort.

I am sure that Cincom=E2=80=99s legal department has all the best =
intentions to protect Cincom=E2=80=99s intellectual property. However, =
what=E2=80=99s Cincom=E2=80=99s position regarding non-profit open =
source projects? Should the developers contact Cincom to get an =
individual permission to use Cincom Smalltalk for the project, or are =
they supposed to buy a commercial license if they don=E2=80=99t already =
have one?

This is the rule which explicitly forbids open source development under =
the PUL, and there are no exemptions in the license text:

=E2=80=9E1.6 =E2=80=A6 Any code, components or software developed using =
the Product under this license must remain strictly for Your personal =
use.=E2=80=9C

This clearly prohibits to use CST for developing anything which is =
published in any form and for any purpose, including contributions to =
CST.

The next one even prohibits the use of CST for just reviewing or =
debugging code of someone else=E2=80=99s open source project and telling =
the author about your findings:

=E2=80=9E1.3 =E2=80=A6 You may not use the Product to =E2=80=A6 support =
any external projects, regardless of whether compensation is =
involved.=E2=80=9C

And this one makes it complicated to use common Smalltalk development =
practices in an open source project:=20

=E2=80=9E1.6 =E2=80=A6 If any portion of the Product is provided in =
source code form, You may view, study and modify such code solely for =
personal, non-commercial exploration or experimentation on Your local =
devices. You may not: (i) publish or share the source code or any =
modifications; (ii) upload it to any public or private repository (e.g., =
GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket); (iii) include it in any project, product or =
system intended for commercial use or distribution; or (iv) use it to =
create derivative works that are shared, sublicensed or deployed outside =
of Your own private use.=E2=80=9C

It is often necessary to override a method by implementing a modified =
version of the method in a subclass, or directly override a method in an =
existing class (although I avoid that if I can). However, such a method =
can=E2=80=99t be included in an open source project, as this is not =
=E2=80=9Efor personal, non-commercial exploration or experimentation on =
Your local devices=E2=80=9C, and it is not allowed to publish such code =
=E2=80=9Eto any public or private repository=E2=80=9C. Which by the way =
also excludes the Cincom Public Repository.

Best regards
Joachim Geidel


> Am 08.10.2025 um 18:16 schrieb Jordan, Jeremy <[email protected]>:
>=20
> Yes, Colin!  You are correct and we are very excited to announce PUL =
9!  In case any of you aren't on the Cincom Smalltalk Digest newsletter =
subscription, here's the announcement we put out on Tuesday of last =
week:
>=20
> PUL 9: A Giant Leap Forward: Now Compatible with macOS!
>=20
> Cincom is excited to announce PUL 9, a groundbreaking upgrade that =
brings full macOS compatibility to our personal use non-commercial =
license version that empowers developers to build and maintain =
applications seamlessly across platforms.
>=20