On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 11:30 AM, Thomas Weholt <thomas.weh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmmm ... maybe, but because of the reusable app focus in django I
> think some sort of guideline regarding choice of license could be
> important.
The problem is that license choice is one of those "holy wars" that
geeks get into -- vi/emacs, mac/windows/linux, etc. etc. etc. Only
it's worse because you've got a bunch of laypeople trying to interpret
law, and we developers tend to fail rather spectacularly when trying
to interpret the law.
So any "official" advice anyone gave would just be a flashpoint for
flamewars, and I don't think anyone's brave enough to wade into this
particular problem. I'm certainly not.
I would like to make a few important points, though:
First, if you have a license you want (or need) to use: use it. Don't
let anyone tell you otherwise. It's *YOUR* software, and *YOU* get to
choose how to license it. I'd hope that you're making an educated
choice, but even if you're picking by throwing darts that's still your
prerogative.
That said, you do need to understand that licenses are more than just
legal terms of use. They're also important community signifiers. What
do I mean by "signifier"? Well, imagine you're in a meeting and
someone you don't know walks in wearing a suit. You'll have an
immediate first impression ("ah, here's a business guy") that'd differ
from seeing someone walk in wearing sandals and at-shirt ("hey, who's
the new developer?")
Well, licenses do that, too. A permissive, BSD-ish license sends a
message that's quite a bit different from the one sent by a
strong-copyleft GPL-ish license. It's hard to articulate just what
these messages are -- I have strong feelings on the matter so I can't
really talk dispassionately.
But I can point out that one of the most important aspects of this
message is one of membership and involvement. Again, think about the
meeting example: if you were going to attend a meeting with a bunch of
developers would you wear a suit? Maybe you would, but you'd probably
know they'd instantly peg you as an outsider. This could be useful --
if you're trying to buy a startup, you probably *want* to look
important and successful. But either way you probably know your
clothes send signifiers about how you see yourself in relation to the
community.
Again, licenses to that, too. In the Python and Django world,
permissive licenses are the norm. Python's licensed under a permissive
license (it's a weird one for historical purposes, but it's most like
the Apache license I think). Django's licensed under one of the most
permissive licenses available (the BSD license). Many Python projects,
and most Django apps, are BSD or MIT licensed. This means that putting
a GPL-licensed Django app is going to immediately stick out as
something a bit different.
I'm *NOT* saying that you should be choosing a license just to "fit
in"! Again, it's *YOUR* choice. The point I'm making is that the
social messages your license sends can be just as important as the
legal rights those license grant. In many cases, the social factors
can be more important than the legal ones.
Good luck, I hope I've not confused things even more for you!
Jacob
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