Licences Question : Squeak-L Art 6.

Andrew C. Greenberg werdna at mucow.com
Thu Mar 13 03:52:36 UTC 2003


Let us begin by tracking the user codes for all changes in the image 
since 1.0.  Then, let us try to identify all those who have made such 
contributions.  Assuming that all those changes are still manifest in 
the image, we then try to get all those people to sign on.  If there 
are holdouts, we can worry about how either to excise their 
contributions, or whether their contributions remain in the image in 
any case.

I think that is the best we can practically do, and it ought to be 
enough.  As I remember, when last computed, the vast majority of 
changes came from Squeak Central and a relatively small group of 
contributors.

Of course, the hard part is finding a substitute license that everyone 
can agree on.  I like the BSD idea, but there are still some who prefer 
a viral solution, at least for the interpreter code.  For my part, i 
think it is better to go KISS -- BSD is a nice, minimalist, 
OSI-acceptable license that works.  Key signons will need to come not 
only from individuals, but in some cases from their employers if 
working on Squeak was within the scope, which means we will probably 
need to get signoffs from at least Disney and Apple.

It can be done, but we need to decide to do it.

On Wednesday, March 12, 2003, at 02:34 AM, goran.hultgren at bluefish.se 
wrote:

> "Andrew C. Greenberg" <werdna at mucow.com> wrote:
>> As much as I agree with this (and like BSD over any other alternatives
>> suggested to date), merely obtaining Apple's consensus would not
>> suffice.  The Intellectual Property in Squeak is owned by each and
>> every one of the contributors (or their employers if developed during
>> scope of employment) thereafter.  Not only Apple, but each and every
>> other contributor would also have to sign on to the new license, or in
>> the alternative, the contributions excised.
>
> Can you think of any practical way of performing this "sign on"?
>
> Just curious.
>
> regards, Göran
>
>



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