Hi all!

Marco Paga <mail at marco-paga.de> wrote:
> Question: The Squeak license is that everybody can use the code but only 
> changes in the base image of squeak should be made public. Right? :-\

Well, "should" is probably not the right word - I think you meant
"must".

> But I want people who extend my code to give their enhancement back to 
> the community. I write code for the community and won't see any money 
> for that. So i want other people doing it the same way if they profit of 
> my work.

Yes, I know - the normal GPL argument. And I fully understand it and
also like it for many different kinds of software. But this is not about
what you or I like or wants. I just tried to explain the problems of GPL
in the Smalltalk world and more specifically in the Squeak world.

To be more specific: If Prevayler is under GPL then I wouldn't dare
using it for anything because I could then possibly find myself in
breach with GPL.

> This license reflects most my thoughts about what open source is. Source 
> must be always opened for everybody who wants to extend his horizon :-) .

Well, there are numerous interesting nuances here. Some argue that
MIT/BSD is "more free" and of course some argue that GPL is "more free"
etc. I have participated in some of these discussions and it is simply
different views on the matter. No point in arguing. So I respect your
view.

> btw: There is a big difference between real goods and soource code. I 
> write something that helps me and after that I can copy this source to 
> everybody all around the world without loosing something. If somebody 
> uses my work as a base for further work s/he can do the same. Is it too 
> much??

I am not sure what you mean with this last question. Perhaps you asked
me "Is it too much too ask, that the software 'remains free' as FSF
likes to put it." Well, my opinion doesn't really matter here.

The problem remains - GPL technically doesn't work with image based
systems. Even Richard Stallman has verified this! Just search the
Squeak-dev archives for postings by Andrew Greenberg (our local license
guru) for more reading on that matter.

...and then of course different communities have different "cultures".
The Smalltalk community and especially Squeak has a more MIT/BSD-like
culture. We share code with each other, and if someone can use it in a
product - fine. It is simply a different approach. And many of us like
it because we actually use Squeak to produce products (or at least we
are trying :-) - if Squeak was under GPL this would in many ways not
work.

> yours Marco

regards, Göran