MESSAGE
DATE | 2018-09-08 |
FROM | Cosmin Truta
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SUBJECT | Re: [Hangout - NYLXS] [png-mng-implement] libpng license 2.0
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See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details. 0.0 FREEMAIL_FROM Sender email is commonly abused enduser mail provider (ctruta[at]gmail.com) -0.0 RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE RBL: Sender listed at http://www.dnswl.org/, no trust [209.85.222.48 listed in list.dnswl.org] -0.0 RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H2 RBL: Average reputation (+2) [209.85.222.48 listed in wl.mailspike.net] -0.0 SPF_PASS SPF: sender matches SPF record -0.1 DKIM_VALID_AU Message has a valid DKIM or DK signature from author's domain 0.1 DKIM_SIGNED Message has a DKIM or DK signature, not necessarily valid -0.1 DKIM_VALID Message has at least one valid DKIM or DK signature 0.0 AWL AWL: Adjusted score from AWL reputation of From: address X-Headers-End: 1fymDp-00CAxJ-Sq X-BeenThere: png-mng-implement-at-lists.sourceforge.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Archive: Subject: Re: [Hangout - NYLXS] [png-mng-implement] libpng license 2.0 X-BeenThere: hangout-at-nylxs.com Reply-To: PNG/MNG implementation discussion list List-Id: NYLXS Tech Talk and Politics List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Errors-To: hangout-bounces-at-nylxs.com Sender: "Hangout"
Matthias B. wrote: > I think inventing a new license is an absolute disaster. If you want to > change the license, switch to an existing OSI-approved one.
In this thread we've discussed at length the theoretical possibility (as well as the practical impossibility) to just switch to some other random license, popular or not, OSI-approved or not.
I want to release the next libpng version 1.6.36 with an OSI-approved license, and I'm making the changes that I believe are necessary, in order to have it approved. I explained the rationale extensively in my initial email.
Most importantly, the present-day libpng license is not reusable across different libpng versions or different contributing authors. I need to rectify that. I'm not inventing a new license, I'm fixing the existing one in order to make it reusable.
That's why I'm naming it "libpng license version 2", not "yet another invented license version 1.0".
Following this discussion, and in the light of Glenn's approval, I will submit my proposed wording to OSI for review. I intend to listen to their critique and follow their recommendations. I'll keep you posted.
Bob Friesenhahn wrote: > This creates an interesting situation since Github and others > encourage 'forking' and modifying software. Github shows 550 search > hits for 'libpng' (not all of which are copies) and 8 direct forks of > Glenn's master repository. Each 'fork' which results in some > modification should immediately add a document which describes the > modifications which were made since Github distributes source code via > Git and tarball downloads.
Good point, but hey, you missed the forks on BitBucket and GitLab ;-)
This is a glossary issue.
Terse licenses like MIT, BSD, etc., don't have a glossary, and they work under the assumption that the licensor and the licensee agree on terminology.
In more verbose licenses like Apache, CPL, EPL, EUPL, etc., there is a glossary, and all have it in Section 1.
Neither the zlib license nor the libpng license define any term. What constitutes "original software"? What is an "altered version"? Is there a necessity to attach a document indicating an "alteration"? Is it misrepresentation if such document isn't attached?
Thanks to the way in which Git works, I am not concerned in principle about a Git fork, because in this day, it's common knowledge what a Git fork is, and how it works. Look, commits! I don't see much of a danger of confusion, if users know how to distinguish between a random fork of a random project, and the original source code downloaded from a location that's trusted to distribute the original.
Now, what if somebody would start distributing a flattened tarball named libpng-1.6.35.tar.gz, containing their own alterations, but without any indication of what's changed? Misrepresentation of the original source, in my opinion.
And I give you that, John: it's trivial to force-push a Git tag to one's own GitHub fork, then have GitHub make a release archive from that. That *is* annoying.
Moreover:
Our own PNG Development Group is a centralized body that publishes PNG-related documents, registered extensions, the png-mng-implement mailing list, the libpng.org website, the PNG Reference Library (i.e. libpng), etc.
Would it be possible for a random group of people, independent of, and unrelated to our group, to start voting on PNG public chunks on their own while still calling it "PNG"? Release libpng-2.0, then libpng-3.0, then libpng-4.0, on their own, still calling it "libpng"? Publish, say, https://png.net or https://png.info? All of that, while we still exist, and in competition with us? Yes, it's possible. I hope it won't happen. I would consider that an unacceptable form of misrepresentation.
I believe that the libpng license grants us more legal protection than other licenses, and I want to keep it that way.
Sincerely, Cosmin
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