Re: [pygame] Licensing

[Michael <zathras@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Monday 30 June 2008 09:33:38 flx wrote:
> 2008/6/30 Michael <zathras@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> >[...]
> > No. LGPL is "if you change our stuff and redistribute it, you must
> > redistribute the changes to our stuff, oh and feel free to relicense
> > under GPL".
> >
> >> GPL is "use and alter but only if the derivative is free."
> >
> > No. GPL is "if you use our stuff and are dependent on it your stuff must
> > be GPL".
>
> This is a common misunderstanding, you don't have to license something
> under *gpl just because you are _using_ something *gpl on it. You can
> create privative software using gpl libraries and utilities as long as
> you distribute them under the same license.

Thanks - I did say "but there will be oversimplifications". As you say it's 
only triggered if you redistribute. 

> What you can't do is modify something under *gpl and distribute it
> under a privative license
>
> >> AGPL is "use but whatever you make must be AGPL."
> >
> > Assuming you mean Affero GPL. AGPL is "if you use our stuff in a
> > webservice, your stuff must also be AGPL, and must provide an offer for
> > the source of both your and our stuff"
>
> Again, not using, but distributing a modified version

Actually the Affero GPL is actually about use. You could run an private
webservice where you're the only user, but if it's a public webservice, the
point of the Affero GPL is to try to force people to release their code and to
ensure that changes to the codebase are shared as well.

I've always been dubious about it simply because I suspect that it's the 
hardest license to enforce. (My personal preference is BSD fwiw, so I'm not 
fussed by it, but find the AGPL dubious because of this aim)

After all, a license only applies if copyright law says you need a license. 
Many countries laws make it legal to make the incidental copy needed to 
execute the code[1] without a license from the copyright owner, meaning that 
for use a license isn't needed - meaning the AGPL "requirement" to release 
code when run as a webservice may or may not apply.

[1] It's either this which the AGPL effectively has to hook into to try to
     apply, that or to try to define the output of the webservice as a
     derivative of the codebase.

This is useful from a historical perspective for understanding the reasoning 
behind the AGPL: http://www.gnu.org/press/2002-03-19-Affero.html

That said, the AGPL is probably *way* off topic for the pygame list, so I'll 
stop there and recommend that anyone who wants to look at this stuff further 
read this book:
http://www.rosenlaw.com/oslbook.htm

It's a very readable book.

Regards,


Michael.