From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263786AbTLJSoR (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:44:17 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263846AbTLJSoR (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:44:17 -0500 Received: from astound-64-85-224-253.ca.astound.net ([64.85.224.253]:36875 "EHLO master.linux-ide.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S263786AbTLJSoO (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:44:14 -0500 Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:38:31 -0800 (PST) From: Andre Hedrick To: David Woodhouse cc: Larry McVoy , karim@opersys.com, Linus Torvalds , Kendall Bennett , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Linux GPL and binary module exception clause? In-Reply-To: <1071071955.5712.428.camel@hades.cambridge.redhat.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org David, For the simple folks like myself, please show me and everyone else where the "contract" terms are specifically? I am having a hard time seeing them, and they exist and real, it should be pointed out clearly. Cheers, Andre Hedrick LAD Storage Consulting Group On Wed, 10 Dec 2003, David Woodhouse wrote: > On Wed, 2003-12-10 at 07:11 -0800, Larry McVoy wrote: > > You may license *your* work under whatever terms you want. Those terms > > can't extend to things that aren't your work in a copyright license. > > Please elaborate. We're talking about a situation in which I grant a > licence for you to copy and use my work, in exchange for something I > desire from you. In the absence of a contract, this is limited to me > effectively saying "You may copy and use my work if and only if you do > XXX". > > If you do not do 'XXX' then you may not use my work. > > Are you saying that there are things which I may not ask for? Could you > elaborate? > > Certainly criminal law prohibits me from actually inciting you to murder > by really asking for the sacrifice of your first-born; I'll grant you > that one. > > But what's wrong with postcardware, where I ask you to send me a > postcard in exchange for permission to use my work? > > What's wrong with shareware, where you have permission to copy my work > and use it for evaluation purposes, but you're asked to pay me if you > continue to use it? > > What's wrong with a licence which requires you to bathe daily in > creosote in order to receive my permission? > > What's wrong with a licence on my software which requires you to > relinquish copyright on any musical score you ever write? > > What's wrong with a licence which requires you to release any unrelated > software you ever write under the same licence? > > It may be increasingly unlikely that you'll _accept_ some of the above > licences, but there's no fundamental problem with them. > > > You need a contract to do that and even then there are limits to what > > you can do. > > I need a contract to force you to do anything; this is true. > > Without a contract, all I can do if you don't abide by my conditions is > observe that you don't have my permission to copy my work, and hence > that if you do so you are committing a criminal offence. > > -- > dwmw2 > > - > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ >