On Wed, 6 Jun 2001, Dave Berry wrote:
> > From: Sven LUTHER [mailto:luther@dpt-info.u-strasbg.fr]
> > > I would encourage people to use an X/BSD-like license for code
> whereever
> > > possible. It saves you all this hassle with determining what is and
> is
> > > not allowed, and which code may be linked or distributed with which
> > > other code.
> > 
> > Yes, including taking all your code, doing some modification 
> > to it, and giving nothing back.
> 
> Yes.  If someone wishes to do that, they can.  Most people will choose
> to make changes available, because it benefits them if the open source
> library grows.  And if they don't, at least they are still using OCaml
> libraries, and increasing the usage of OCaml.  To me, this far outweighs
> any disadvantage.

I agree with Dave here. Besides, I don't think the {L}GPL prevents you
from modifying code and giving nothing back. It just means you can't
distribute that code. You could always use it for in-house software,
right (caveat; I'm not a lawyer, etc.)? 

Anyways, I've appended a part of the GNAT modified GPL which I snatched
from the GNU Ada compiler libraries, which may be of interest. Note the
part about generic instantiation, which would correspond to functor
instantiation for MLers. I think this is something like what Sven was 
mentioning with respect to the LGPL earlier.  

> If your main aim is to protect your code from unwanted use, then go
> ahead and use the GPL or LGPL.  If your main aim is to get your code
> used as widely as possible, use a less restrictive license.  Surely the
> aim of the CDK is to promote wide use, rather than to restrict it?

That's my take on it. Besides, if I use someone else's library in a
commercial product, it seems that it would be in my best interests to
contribute fixes and enhancements. That's why I don't mind an LGPL like 
approach which forces me to do so. What I don't want to do is to use
someone's library for some data structure and then have *all* of my code 
forced to accept that license.

-- Brian


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