Re: [AD] giftware license

[Michal Molhanec <michal@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Elias Pschernig wrote:
> Allegro already has a FAQ - so I think a good place for this would be in
> the FAQ, under a section "license". There could be a reference to that
> FAQ section at the point where you added it in readme._tx.

I though about it and I think it should be really near to the licence. 
If it will be in FAQ nobody will read it. Or what creating separate page 
for disclaimer + licence + this minifaq?

> > +@@   Does the licence mean that Allegro is public domain?
> > +      No. Every Allegro contributor holds its copyright for the code he or
> > +      she wrote.
>
>
> Maybe we should explain that some more. It sounds somehow dangerous that
> every contributor holds copyright.. what rights exactly does it give
> them to the code they contributed?

OK, what about this wording:

Does the licence mean that Allegro is public domain?
  No. Every Allegro contributor holds its copyright for the code he or
  she wrote. He or she only grants you rights to use for any purpose
  you want. The fact that the contributor has its copyrights means
  that you e.g. cannot claim that you wrote his code.

> > +@@   Is Allegro compatible with licence XXX (e.g. GPL) ?
> > +      As Allegro licence has no restrictions on use you can combine it with
> > +      any licence you want. You only cannot distribute it as a part of
> > +      public domain program.
>
>
> As someone else noted - that last point shouldn't be there I guess. To
> be honest, I have no idea if Allegro isn't actually public domain, given
> its license (or else, what would be the difference?) You can do anything
> with both.. (I feel, that giftware thread didn't actually make me that
> much more knowledgeable about licenses :P)

did you red the giftware thread on the opensource.org mailing list?
it there clearly explained that there are two independent things:
1) copyright. in many countries you have copyright automatically and for 
all your life and you _cannot_ give it up (e.g. here in Czech
Republic). (and the allegro licence never said anything like that the 
contributors give up their copyrights)
2) rights to use

> I think, also a related question would be good:
>
> Is Allegro open source (OSI) compatible?
>
> See the previous question. Since Allegro is compatible with about any
> license, it also is ISO compatible. It clearly is compatible to all the
> points in the OSD (open source definition). You can search the OSI
> mailing list for "Allegro" to see that OSI shares this view. (OSI
> officials still were reluctant to consider it for approval though and
> suggested to use a more restrictive license like MIT instead.)

good point!

--
Regards,
    Michal