From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Stephen J. Turnbull" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: NaCl support for Emacs Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:04:19 +0900 Message-ID: <87zkdu8buk.fsf@uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> References: <87ipkq6yy5.fsf@lifelogs.com> <87boqi6tzz.fsf@linux-hvfx.site> <87ehve3ul8.fsf@lifelogs.com> <87lipl22xm.fsf@lifelogs.com> <87boqh20ha.fsf@lifelogs.com> <871urc46c9.fsf@uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> <739bsoysp.fsf@news.eternal-september.org> <87ty47r5yt.fsf@lifelogs.com> <87k452p5u3.fsf@lifelogs.com> <87liphne9e.fsf_-_@lifelogs.com> <87ipkiakqq.fsf@uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1326297895 25511 80.91.229.12 (11 Jan 2012 16:04:55 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:04:55 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Eli Zaretskii , Carsten Mattner , emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Stefan Monnier Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jan 11 17:04:51 2012 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([140.186.70.17]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Rl0fN-0006Kn-UT for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:04:46 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:58989 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Rl0fN-0003dq-FA for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:04:45 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:51447) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Rl0fC-0003bZ-UO for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:04:43 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Rl0fB-0000Rs-D4 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:04:34 -0500 Original-Received: from mgmt2.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp ([130.158.97.224]:52822) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Rl0f0-0000Qa-0o; Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:04:22 -0500 Original-Received: from uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp (uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp [130.158.99.156]) by mgmt2.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5EEF19707E9; Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:04:19 +0900 (JST) Original-Received: by uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 2D1A51A29FF; Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:04:19 +0900 (JST) In-Reply-To: X-Mailer: VM undefined under 21.5 (beta31) "ginger" e6b5c49f9e13 XEmacs Lucid (x86_64-unknown-linux) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-Received-From: 130.158.97.224 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:147589 Archived-At: Stefan Monnier writes: > > It's public domain. Is that a problem? > > IIUC that depends on how he made it "public domain". More specifically, > IIRC, it is impossible to really place in the public domain something > you created recently (i.e. you can't relinquish your copyright rights so > easily). AFAIK Richard has stated explicitly that public domain software may be incorporated in Emacs, but the legal staff recommends (and he agrees) that the author needs to file a statement of dedication or something like that with the FSF. I don't recall him saying you need to be careful about how old the software is. Larry Rosen told me that a public statement of dedication (including as a permission notice in the source) should be sufficient, up to the question of proving in court if the author removed the evidence (such as the tarballs on his site). So, yes, some lawyers do say that in the U.S. there is no explicit basis in legislation or case law for public domain dedications, and therefore the only reliable way for a work to enter the public domain is via lapse of copyright (which thanks to Disney and Sonny Bono's widow won't happen again in our lifetimes, but it's the principle of the thing, you know!) But most lawyers (of the dozen or so I've talked to on a "not legal advice" basis, usually with wine in hand :-) seem to think that an appropriately written dedication should be sufficient.