Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 20:37:32 -0400 From: Mike Edenfield <kutulu@kutulu.org> To: Glenn Sieb <ges+lists@wingfoot.org> Cc: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Drop of portindex Message-ID: <4148E04C.3090001@kutulu.org> In-Reply-To: <4148DEA3.7070306@wingfoot.org> References: <20040915093120.3067472e@dolphin.local.net> <3.0.5.32.20040915104438.01f2dda0@sage-american.com> <200409151833.55714.michaelnottebrock@gmx.net> <20040915175615.11c92103@zork> <4148DDC5.403@kutulu.org> <4148DEA3.7070306@wingfoot.org>
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Glenn Sieb wrote:
> Mike Edenfield said the following on 9/15/2004 8:26 PM:
>
>> Of course, the author clearly doesn't want his software distributed,
>> so it would (IMO) violate the spirit of community software development
>> to go against his wishes, but the legal footing for the package is
>> pretty confusing.
>
>
> I'd be more concerned with what else he's planning on contributing and
> yanking back when it gets "too popular."
>
> Didn't he mention working on writable ufs2 snapshots? What would happen
> to his contributed code should he decide to pull a "portindex" again? :-/
The solution, based on past experience, is to demand a
clarified copyright license up front. Either the author
uses a license you are ok with, or you avoid using the
software. It's an author's right, as unpopular as it may
be, to change licensing terms whenever he or she wants.
Of course, I think it should be pointed out that people who
*already have* copies of portindex shouldn't rush to
uninstall it because copyright permission has been revoked.
If the copies were made beforehand, it's very clear that
the author knowingly and willingly allowed (even actively
assisted in) making copies of the software for FreeBSD
users. I suspect that results in some sort of very limited
implicit license: if I put a stack of articles I wrote on my
front lawn with a big sign saying "Take One" I can't exactly
complain when people take one. Even if the author seemed to
want to go around trying to revoke rights to all those
copies, I'm not entire sure he would have much luck unless
*new* copies were being made.
--Mike
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