[OpenLayers-Dev] RFC: Changing the License on OpenLayers

[Paul Spencer]

+1 Paul

On 9-Oct-07, at 12:53 PM, Christopher Schmidt wrote:

> During the FOSS4G conference, the available members of the PSC sat  
> down
> with our incubation mentor (Howard Butler) and Frank Warmadam,  
> president
> of OSGeo, to discuss completing OSGeo incubation of OpenLayers.
>
> It was decided that the easiest path forward for all involved would be
> to change the license on all OpenLayers materials -- including all
> future releases -- to be licensed under the license that MetaCarta has
> been calling the 'Clear BSD'. The Clear BSD is essentially the BSD
> license, with an extra clause that states that no patent rights are
> granted with the license.
>
> In the past, we had posted to the dev/users lists about changing the
> repository license from the MetaCarta-specific one to the Clear BSD.
> (This had been discussed internally on the PSC list, then made  
> public.)
> Now, we are having the same discussion, but instead of changing  
> just the
> repository license, we are proposing to change the release license as
> well.
>
> Changing this license will allow us to remove all MetaCarta-specific
> aspects of the release process. It has no (known) change in the actual
> licensing restrictions. Changing the release process allows us to
> proceed with OSGeo incubation.
>
> As a reminder, for those who haven't been paying attention, an
> explanation of MetaCarta's need for the "Clear BSD" license is  
> available
> from http://labs.metacarta.com/license-explanation.html , and has (in
> bold) the changes in the license text. (They're pretty minor.)
>
> This RFC is a request for any comments on the intention to change, for
> all future releases of OpenLayers, the release license to be the Clear
> BSD license, and (since the repository license will then be the same)
> to thereafter refer to it only as the "Clear BSD" license in the code,
> docs, etc.
>
> I am in favor (+1) of making this change as soon as the 2.5 release is
> out, making 2.5 the last release shipped under the official BSD  
> license,
> and at that time making the previously proposed changes to the SVN
> layout in order to take into account the licensing change.
>
> (PSC Members: I know we voted on this on the PSC list, but I'd like to
> have a public vote as part of our goal of moving PSC list  
> discussions to
> the public view, so even if you feel like you voted, please vote again
> :))
>
> Regards,
> -- 
> Christopher Schmidt
> MetaCarta
> _______________________________________________
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> Dev at openlayers.org
> http://openlayers.org/mailman/listinfo/dev

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|Paul Spencer                          pspencer at dmsolutions.ca    |
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|Chief Technology Officer                                         |
|DM Solutions Group Inc                http://www.dmsolutions.ca/ |
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