Re: TFS-CMU license

* On 2/12/25 22:46, Jérémy Lal wrote:
> Le mer. 12 févr. 2025 à 22:43, Soren Stoutner <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>> a écrit :
>     On Wednesday, February 12, 2025 1:31:58 PM MST Jérémy Lal wrote:
>      >  * TFS supplies this software to be publicly redistributed
> 
> That part seems to imply that it is meant to be redistributed by anyone ?

Sadly, that is a prime example of why picking a standard license is way better 
than drafting a new license.

It does convey a certain BSD-like spirit, but does not hold up to a standard 
three-clause BSD license and may in fact end up being non-free, depending on the 
interpretation. The spirit is certainly DFSG-free, and I would treat it as such, 
but picking a standard license would have been the better option.

Distribution is also not my gripe with the license, which seems to be shared 
with CMU and "everyone else".

Modification, though, is.

(Re-)distribution rights are granted to CMU, and while CMU has the rights to use 
it "as they see fit", that may or may not imply making modifications - this is 
very much up to interpretation.

"Everyone else" has redistribution, usage and modification rights. This, at 
least, is spelled out directly.

The license also does not discern between - or even mentions - binary and source 
forms of the software. That need not be a bad thing, because, again, depending 
on interpretation, both may be meant implicitly if it is not explicitly spelled 
out, but it would have been better to just state it.


> Anyway, that's too bad for it to be so badly worded.

Most certainly.



Mihai

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