Re: no one is asking for Perl to be GPL-only (was Re: licensing issues)

At 16:42 -0500 01.15.2001, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote:
>For example, I'd like to see CPAN.pm warn you if you are about to
>install a module which will, licensing-wise, force you down a GPL-only
>or AL-only fork when you use it in your programs.

As long as it is an option, sure, some people would probably dig it.  But
it would annoy me greatly if it were that way on my system and I couldn't
turn it off with a flag in CPAN::Config.  It would probably annoy me if it
was on by default, too.  Remember, most of the problems with these licenses
have to do not with use, but distribution, and the vast majority of users
of modules just use them, they don't distribute them.  Most people don't
care what the license is unless that are going to distribute.


>Also, someone might have to use a completely different license for other
>reasons.  For example, some modules are MPL-only because they are XS
>interfaces to MPL-only systems.  We should flag people about that.
>
>(In fact, I don't even know that the MPL is compatible with the AL, so it
>may not be feasible to install such a module at all...we'll need to
>find that out.)

I don't think we should flag that.  I think we should stay away from any
specific recommendations as far as the software is concerned.  Just inform
people what the licenses are, perhaps with links to the licenses.  I dunno,
it strikes me as overly "interested" to actually make recommendations to
users about what is compatible with what at this level.  Does that make
sense?

-- 
Chris Nandor                      [email protected]    http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network    [email protected]     http://osdn.com/