Re: Licensing and the client/server divide [was Re: License for mixminion dist]

[Zooko <zooko@zooko.com>]

Okay I think I understand the client/server distinction you mean: extending 
the server means sending or receiving Node-to-Node traffic or processing such 
traffic while it is en route (not to or from you as an endpoint).  *Using* the 
server -- acting as a client -- means sending or receiving messages.

The thing is, the way to act as a client is to be dynamically linked to the 
core code of your node and invoke its Python functions, right?  So if the code 
code is GPL'ed then you can't ship proprietary client code.  We could add a 
specific exemption to the GPL for code that uses only the client API (which 
doesn't offer any way to examine or manipulate en route traffic).

I would still be happy to just LGPL the whole thing and just not worry about 
the possibility that someone ships a proprietary product that dynamically 
links with the core code and then does proprietary things to the en route 
traffic, but I would also be happy if a (clean, widely acceptable) license 
could be applied which forces such people to implement their own core code.

Regards,

Zooko