From: Stephen White <steve@...>
Date: 2001-01-12T19:00:21+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:9190] Re: Licensing issues

On Fri, 12 Jan 2001, Kevin Smith wrote:

> If at all possible, *please* find an existing license that is close enough
> to what you want. We already have too many license variations.

The following may be of interest. I was interested in a license that
would prevent businesses from using my code (eg, the opposite of the
closed source arrangement).

# From rms@gnu.org Fri Jan 12 20:25:35 2001
# Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 18:20:55 -0600 (MDT)
# From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
# To: steve@deaf.org
# Cc: rms-assist@gnu.org
# Subject: Re: GPL license for my code?
#
# [I am cc'ing my assistant for his information.]
#
#    I'm writing a refactoring tool for C, and I'm wondering what license to
#    put on it.
#
# I don't know what "refactoring" is, but I will try to respond anyway.
#
#    I would like to make it GPL, but I want to add the provision that my
#    software can only be used for producing free software (GPL, BSD, any
#    GNU approved licensing scheme).
#
# Adding a requirement to the GPL, no matter what it might say, would
# result in a license that is incompatible with the GPL.  That would
# be a very bad thing, practically speaking.
#
# But the general idea is basically impossible.  The copyright on a
# program does not legally entitle you to make requirements about what
# data it can be used on.
#
# There is one situation where you could accomplish something like this.
# If the tool writes some substantial amount of code (or other text)
# into the output, as Bison does, then you could put a license on *that*
# text which only allows use in a larger program under certain
# conditions.  The copyright on that text would enable you to do so.
#
# If, however, you permit use under the BSD license, you permit just
# about anything.  Recall that the BSD license permits non-free modified
# versions to be published.  So someone could make the BSD-licensed
# version, but not publish it; he could then make a non-free modified
# version of that, and publish it, as permitted by the BSD license.
#
# So the only way to get an effect more or less like what you have in
# mind is to put that included text under a copyleft license--the GPL,
# for instance.  Then it could only be included in programs that are
# under the GPL, and that would make sure that what gets distributed to
# the end user is still free.

-- 
  steve@deaf.org