[Pkg-isocodes-devel] iso-codes license

[Tobias Quathamer]

Hi all,

I think it would be a good opportunity to clean up the iso-codes package a 
bit at this early stage in the release cycle. One of the things I'm willing 
to resolve is our current license situation. I've mailed to this list one 
and a half years ago about this topic[1].

After reading the whole thread again, I'm coming to the conclusion that 
we've agreed to use either GPL or LGPL for the complete package, not the 
mixture we have currently[2].

The last input to this discussion had come from Alastair, who said that he 
had chosen the LGPL to allow non-GPL programs to use the iso-codes data[3].

However, if you read the article of Richard Stallman[4] about the LGPL, I 
think that we should choose the GPL for iso-codes. After all, the ISO 
agencies sell their codes to people, and we have trouble to find reliable 
online and free (as in beer) sources for the code tables.

So, if someone wants to use iso-codes for a free (as in speech) project, 
they might do so and release their project under the GPL as well. However, 
if e.g. Microsoft needs ISO data, they will probably just buy the standard 
from the ISO agency and use it for their proprietary program. Otherwise, 
should they use our package, they would need to license their program under 
GPL.

Regards,
Tobias

[1] <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-isocodes-devel/2007-
September/000736.html>
[2] <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-isocodes-devel/2007-
December/001042.html>
[3] <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-isocodes-devel/2008-
May/001445.html>
[4] <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html>

-- 
Tobias Quathamer | If Bill Gates had a dime for every time a Windows box
Hamburg, Germany | crashed ... Oh, wait a minute, he already does.

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