From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: xah lee Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel,gmane.emacs.pretest.bugs Subject: suggestion for changing source code licensing preamble Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 07:05:41 -0800 Message-ID: <99E99E58-9551-482E-97BC-F3C6834EF427@xahlee.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v753) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; delsp=yes; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1199469640 4974 80.91.229.12 (4 Jan 2008 18:00:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 18:00:40 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Jan 04 19:00:59 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1JAqqd-0000xm-Qe for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:00:48 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1JAqqG-0003G7-NK for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:00:24 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JAo7Y-0007zs-Aw for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:06:04 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JAo7W-0007yy-8J for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:06:04 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1JAo7W-0007yu-13 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:06:02 -0500 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([140.186.70.10]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1JAo7V-0001kb-MY for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:06:01 -0500 Original-Received: from mail.gnu.org ([199.232.76.166] helo=mx10.gnu.org) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1JAo7V-0002bu-Ey for emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:06:01 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1JAo7S-0001k9-89 for emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:06:01 -0500 Original-Received: from mout.perfora.net ([74.208.4.195]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1JAo7R-0001jx-SJ for emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:05:58 -0500 Original-Received: from [192.168.0.2] (user-64-9-239-250.googlewifi.com [64.9.239.250]) by mrelay.perfora.net (node=mrus0) with ESMTP (Nemesis) id 0MKp8S-1JAo7O1Dr4-0004PP; Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:05:56 -0500 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.753) X-Provags-ID: V01U2FsdGVkX19YRLvVf0gQ3VeediXuMxlo2NM0CRYqQHh5P0O LbX6gZ65YMy/qOca/LaRORnS/fuiPpNlfqLZnK5crma2nT0y9S tOt0uBKnNLvm7MQYlTk6Q== X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6? (barebone, rare!) X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-Mailman-Approved-At: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:00:09 -0500 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:86072 gmane.emacs.pretest.bugs:20498 Archived-At: I noticed, that in just about all emacs programs on the web (elisp =20 source code), it comes with this template text as its preamble: ;; This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or ;; modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as ;; published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at ;; your option) any later version. ;; This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but ;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of ;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU ;; General Public License for more details. ;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License ;; along with this program; see the file COPYING. If not, write to ;; the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, ;; Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. Concerned parties and the FSF foundation, please remove the middle =20 section of this template. That section is mainly for lawyers, for =20 programers to protect themselves in the context of modern society's =20 law system. Legally speaking, that section is redundant because it is =20= in the GNU General Public License itself. The effect of that section =20 in a license summary is fueling the habit and sanction of =20 irresponsible programing we see all around us. In place of that section, i'd propose possibly replacing it with the =20 following or similar: =C2=ABThis program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful. = The =20 author(s) has responsibly produced it, and will take reasonable =20 responsibilities with regards to the program's intended purpose and =20 workability. For legal aspects of WARRANTY, please see the GNU =20 General Public License for more details.=C2=BB Regarding these issues, i have written essays on them before. Please =20 see: Responsible Software Licensing http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/responsible_license.html Responsible Software Licensing & the Free Software Foundation http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/responsible_license_FSF.html Xah Lee xah@xahlee.org =E2=88=91 http://xahlee.org/ =E2=98=84