Re: What license to use for Emacs libraries?

[phillip.lord@russet.org.uk (Phillip Lord)]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

>> There are other options, I believe, including release under public
>> domain which I you could do, although others can argue that this is a
>> bad thing to do.
>
> Few people find it bad to "release in the public domain".  Instead the
> problem is that you can't do it.  Your work will/should fall into the
> public domain at some point in the future (currently defined as
> something like 75 years after your death, tho there are strong
> commercial interests behind pushing this even further into the future),
> but nobody (other than time itself) can do that.
>
> Instead, you can release under a license that mimics the effects of
> something being in the public domain (e.g. the CC0 license).


Indeed, it is clearer to use a CC0 license, since that is explicit.
Whether you can do it or not is a slightly different issue, of course. I
think that you are correct wrt to the US, outside of the US government.

In the UK, I believe that the term "public domain" has much meaning wrt
copyright as "fair use" or indeed the term "Jeremy Clarkson": i.e. none
at all.

Neither Canada nor Poland would I wish to hazard a guess about!

Phil