[OSGeo-Discuss] Proposal for the listing of projects in our new web site

[James Klassen]

I generally agree with Even's comments.

W.r.t. Not requireing other licenses clause, I would like to add a question
about how this would apply to free software that is mostly intended to
operate with non-free data?  e.g. GDAL drivers that enable reading
proprietary formats via a vendor SDK or formats that tend to only be used
with strictly licensed data or reading data from non-open standards based
web services (where you only control the client but the client is pointless
without a running server which requires its own separate license).

On Aug 19, 2017 08:40, "Even Rouault" <even.rouault at spatialys.com> wrote:

> Hi Angelos,
>
>
>
> thanks for turning those discussions into a positive way forward and your
> proposal sounds good to me. A few comments below.
>
>
>
> >
>
> > I would like to propose a way forward:
>
> >
>
> > 1. We should *only* promote projects that are somehow affiliated with
> OSGeo
>
> > (as other Free and Open Source organizations do eg. Apache, Eclipse)
>
>
>
> Makes sense. When you promote something on your website, you are somewhat
> responsible for it, so you must ensure that it meets some minimum criteria
> that are in the "OSGeo spirit"
>
>
>
> > A proposal for *new* rules:
>
>
>
> > * Has to have an OSI or FSF approved license and be found on the web in a
>
> > public place.
>
>
>
> Sounds obvious, but we should probably rephrase that "Source code is
> released with an OSI or FSF approved license and is available on the web in
> a public place."
>
>
>
> I know at least one project that is Apache licensed but released only as
> binaries, which makes it not very convenient to modify :-)
>
>
>
> > * Has to be useful on its own with normal data, and NOT require another
>
> > license to really use it
>
>
>
> Is it something that is currently required for graduation ? I don't see
> this criterion mentioned in
>
> http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/project_graduation_checklist.html
>
>
>
> That one is probably tricky to write correctly. Stated like this, that
> would for example exclude a Windows executable, since to use it you must
> own a Windows license... Even if you take a Linux executable that is X/MIT
> licensed, it links against the GNU libc that is GPL licensed (but as GNU
> libc is considered part of the OS, there's a provision in the GPL license
> to not apply the GPL obligations to the code that links to it). Or if you
> take a Java program, it must run within a JVM that comes with its own
> license. Same for Python, etc...
>
>
>
> But beyond this nitpicking, that criterion can raise more fundamental
> debates:
>
> * is the intent to exclude projects that would be open-source released
> plugins of a proprietary software for example (the plugin could be an
> exporter from proprietary formats/projects to open source ones for example)
> ?
>
> * Or open-source released projects that would connect to a proprietary
> server (just saw in LWN headlines that Debian is currently debating whether
> they should allow OSS software that connect to proprietary services) ?
>
> * What about a fully open-source project that connects to a proprietary
> service ?
>
>
>
> If I take the exemple of GDAL, the following situations can be found:
>
> * it is X/MIT licensed but can link to a few GPL licensed lib (poppler,
> GRASS, ...)
>
> * it can link to proprietrary licensed libs
>
> * it can interact with proprietary services that have a public API, but
> don't require linking against proprietary code
>
> * other/most parts are fully useful on their own
>
>
>
> So I think this question alone could deserve its own thread.
>
>
>
> > The project should need to officially apply for being included as OSGeo
>
> > Community Project, by answering a questionnaire (including information
>
> > gathering for the web site and provide a point of contact for maintaining
>
> > that information in the future)
>
>
>
> +1
>
>
>
> Relation question: if OSGeo website promotes a community project, should
> the website of this project (or github page if no dedicated website) links
> to OSGeo one ? I'm not even sure this is a requirement for a graduated
> project.
>
>
>
> Even
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Spatialys - Geospatial professional services
>
> http://www.spatialys.com
>
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>
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