What does copyleft mean? The purpose of a copyleft provision in my mind is to make it so that changes get contributed back. While it is clear that the Sleepycat license attempts to do so, it does not stop source being available for a nominal fee under an additional copyright license chosen by the contributor. If that license happens to be the GPL, well OK. But Sleepycat can't use that code without changing their license. If that license happens to be something preventing further modification and redistribution, then you've lost the whole point of copyleft.
Nailing down copyleft and making it actually work is surprisingly tricky. That is one reason why careful copyleft licenses are so verbose. On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 7:24 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Maxthon Chan scripsit: > >> Is it favorable to add a copy left clause into 2BSDL to make it copyleft? >> "You must provide the source code, in its human-preferred format, with >> this work or any derivatives of this work you created when >> redistributing." > > That's pretty much what the Sleepycat license does. Here's a very lightly > edited version of its additional clause: > > Redistributions in any form must be accompanied by information > on how to obtain complete source code for the licensed software > and any accompanying software that uses the licensed software. > The source code must either be included in the distribution > or be available for no more than the cost of distribution > plus a nominal fee, and must be freely redistributable under > reasonable conditions. For an executable file, complete source > code means the source code for all modules it contains. > It does not include source code for modules or files that > typically accompany the major components of the operating > system on which the executable file runs. > > The restrictions pretty much match those of the GPL2. > The Sleepycat license itself is redundant and non-templatized, > so it can't be reused directly. If someone felt like > proposing something like 2-clause BSD + the above, I for one would > welcome it. Unlike the GPL, this does not create a new and > distinct software commons. > > -- > John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan [email protected] > Police in many lands are now complaining that local arrestees are insisting > on having their Miranda rights read to them, just like perps in American TV > cop shows. When it's explained to them that they are in a different country, > where those rights do not exist, they become outraged. --Neal Stephenson > > > _______________________________________________ > License-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://projects.opensource.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss _______________________________________________ License-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://projects.opensource.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss
