[GRASSLIST:10809] Re: [GRASS5] FWD: [OSGeo-Discuss] Incubation Committee / Contributor Agreements]

[Michael Barton]

I understand this perspective and welcome mechanisms by which developers and
contributors can have their work properly credited and distributed.

On the other hand, I've already run into problems in trying to establish
links between GRASS and other open source software, using other licenses
(BSD and MIT). Because GRASS is GPL, if the developers of the other software
do not want to license under GPL, we are very limited in the kinds of
linkages we can establish. I understand (I think) the basic principals
though not the legal details.

It would be nice if we could maintain GPL principals for contributors who
feel most strongly about this, but could also find some way to let GRASS
interact more flexibly with other software. I don't know how this can
happen, but I hope that OSGeo can help work some of this out.

Michael
__________________________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402

phone: 480-965-6213
fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton



> From: Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>
> Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 02:40:48 +0000
> To: Richard Greenwood <richard.greenwood at gmail.com>
> Cc: grass developers list <grass5 at grass.itc.it>, GRASS user list
> <grasslist at baylor.edu>
> Subject: Re: [GRASSLIST:10783] Re: [GRASS5] FWD: [OSGeo-Discuss] Incubation
> Committee / Contributor Agreements]
> 
> 
> Richard Greenwood wrote:
> 
>>> Personally, I don't intend to sign the proposed CLA.
>> 
>> I have lurked on this list for long enough to know the contributions
>> that you make to GRASS. I am curious as to why you do not intend to
>> sign the CLA. I am not asking this as a 'leading' question. I am quite
>> ignorant of IP license issues and I would like to understand your
>> position.
> 
> I believe that, in most cases, releasing code under the GPL provides
> the maximum benefit, as anyone wishing to create derivative works also
> has to licence their version under the GPL. The more GPL'd code that
> exists, the greater the incentive for developers to make new code
> available under the GPL.
> 
> The CLA grants the foundation the right to redistribute contributed
> code under almost any licence, including those which permit
> proprietary derivatives (e.g. BSD and MIT licences). Such licences
> provide significantly less incentive for developers to share their
> additions or enhancements.
> 
> -- 
> Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>
>