[Qgis-psc] QGIS licence (was: QGIS on iOS was QGIS for Mobile (Android))

[Nyall Dawson]

On Thu, 17 Oct 2019 at 16:42, Andreas Neumann <a.neumann at carto.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Nyall,
>
> I doubt that an "unbiased" company/organization/person even exists on this planet, when it comes to licenses, just as people have a precedence for political views and parties. Disclaimer: I am personally certainly not unbiased, regarding this matter.
>
> But before even starting on asking someone to dive into the topic, I would like to know the reasons why we need to discuss a license change?
>
> Is iOS the only reason? If yes, others have pointed out that alternative app stores exist. If we offer QGIS on iOS, we could publish it in an alternative app store, write some small page explaining how it works and the problem should be solved? It is certainly acceptable for someone to do these 2-3 extra clicks in order to get a free QGIS mobile for their Apple mobile? I am sure our users would understand this situation, if we explain in 2-3 sentences why we have to do this: license incompatibilities that aren't easy (or maybe not even possible?) to solve.

While it's been the trigger of the current round of discussion, It's
certainly not the only factor at play. For instance, I know the GPL
requirement on QGIS plugins has been a sticking point for some in the
past.

I think there's also a need to discuss licensing from a
risk-management perspective.There's a reasonable post published
yesterday on this topic over at ars technica:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/is-the-software-world-taking-too-much-from-the-open-source-community/,
which covers some of the same territory as Paul Ramsey's recent
keynotes have done (but arguably Paul's versions are better researched
and more eloquent). The face of open-source development IS changing,
and the software world is HUGELY different today vs what it was when
the QGIS project began. I honestly feel that it's really just doing
due-diligence for us as a project to at least investigate these
different factors and have a trustworthy, well researched body of
knowledge surrounding it. A large percentage of this community have
livelihoods/incomes of which QGIS is a significant component, and I'd
really like to see us as a project recognise and take steps to protect
this.

At the moment, we're all just throwing around personal opinions
(myself included) based on incomplete understanding of the whole
situation...

Nyall




>
> Andreas
>
> On 2019-10-17 08:11, Nyall Dawson wrote:
>
> On Thu, 17 Oct 2019 at 15:44, Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it> wrote:
>
> no need to be emotional on this, fully agreed.
> So if I if I understand it correctly you are suggesting to move to a
> BSD-like licence or an LGPL for part of it?
>
>
> Actually - I'm proposing a discussion several levels before even
> discussing a particular license :)
>
> I'd like someone to research and write up a commissioned report on whether:
>
> - it would be possible to relicense QGIS and what would be involved in
> doing so (including which other projects have done this and how they
> went about it)
> - what the potential benefits and downsides of doing so would be.
> - possible licenses we could investigate, and which of these would
> make things like the iOS situation easier
> - whether dependencies we already have would block any possibility of
> relicensing
> - how this would impact on the plugin scene (I could see there being
> both huge benefits and disadvantages of relicensing for plugins)
> - whether a potential CLA assigning code ownership to qgis.org would
> be possible, and the advantages and disadvantages of this
>
> I think this should be done by a trusted company or individual, and
> ideally one well acquainted with the QGIS community yet with a history
> of **impartiality** to topics which impact on this (like the ios
> situation, or a history of antagonism toward non-GPL software). Only
> after a report has been written by this individual/organisation, and
> then tabled and accepted by the PSC, should it THEN be raised for
> public discussion with the community, where **everyone** discussing
> the issue can be fully informed of all sides of the debate **before**
> the group discussion even begins!
>
> Nyall
>
> Besides personal preferences
> and priorities, I believe this would be technically very difficult. We
> tried many years ago the same for GRASS, and it proved impossible,
> especially because of the code from developers disappeared form the radar.
> I should add that I'm hearing since years rumors of the type "it's free
> for now, be sure that when it will be very good you'll have to pay for
> it". I think that discussing about this will give credit to these
> rumors, and spread FUD around the project, so we have to be extra careful.
> I suggest discussing this in the next PSC.
> Cheers.
> --
> Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
> QGIS.ORG Chair:
> http://planet.qgis.org/planet/user/28/tag/qgis%20board/
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