[Pkg-isocodes-devel] iso-codes licensing

[Tobias Toedter]

On Sat, 8 Sep 2007 22:06:46 +0100
Alastair McKinstry <alastair.mckinstry at scealnetworks.com> wrote:

> I originally chose the GPL when starting the project.
> I changed later to LGPL to allow people to 'link against' the code  
> without releasing their code.
> Any lingering references to 'GPL' are mistakes, and should be
> changed to 'LGPL'.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm wondering, however, if non-free
programs can "link against" iso-codes. For sure, we do not provide a
library. The XML files and translations we provide are not suitable to
be "linked against", in my opinion. So the question arises if it would
not be possible to use the GPL instead of the LGPL for the package.

Quoting from <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLOutput>:
"In what cases is the output of a GPL program covered by the GPL too?"
"Only when the program copies part of itself into the output."

We do not do this, we do not even provide programs which generate any
output. We simply provide the data and their translations.

So the question arises if it should not be possible to use the GPL.

> I'm not particularly in favour of the BSD, as I'd prefer that anyone  
> that uses the code
> and makes changes should release those changes - witness Microsoft  
> use of the
> BSD networking stack ,without making its code changes free, for
> example. I think the differences between LGPL and BSD in practice are
> not very large for this project,
> but people have submitted lots of patches & translations with the  
> expectation of it being
> a 'GPL' project - moving to LGPL was a small move, other moves  
> require good explanations.

OK, I understand your concern. So the question seems to be whether we
use GPL vs. LGPL and not if we use any BSD license.

> I haven't read the LPGL v3 yet; any relevant changes ?

Neither have I, but the main differences in *GPL v3* (not LGPL v3) are
about DRM, tivoization, and using bittorrent as distribution channel. I
would expect the differences in LGPL to be similar.

Regards,
Tobias

-- 
Tobias Toedter   | Early to bed and early to rise and you'll
Hamburg, Germany | be groggy when everyone else is wide awake.
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