Re: Mixing GPL and non-copyleft code in source files

[Vagrant Cascadian <vagrant@debian.org>]

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On 2024-01-03, Wojtek Kosior via wrote:
> Before getting back to the discussion, please let me ask 1 question.
> Assume I submit a patch series that adds some useful and needed code and
> includes a copyright notice with a promise, like this
>
> ;;; Copyright © 2023 Wojtek Kosior <koszko@koszko.org>
> ;;; Wojtek Kosior promises not to sue for violations of this file's license.
>
> Will this weirdness be considered minor enough to tolerate?  I made
> sure the promise line takes below 78 chars.

I am not at all a lawyer, but this seems like an entirely different
license, and at the very least a pragmatic headache.

"I promise not to sue" might even hold up in one court, but not another;
anyone with a modicum of legal caution would reasonably avoid using
software with such terms, and people who are naive enough to use
something with such a baited risk attached are just setting themselves
up for getting legally attacked.

You claim you do not want to threaten anyone with force, but this sort
of licensing clause opens the door wide to all sorts of legal abuses and
threats.

It honestly feels like a sabotage clause to me, even if that is not the
intention.

I would be very concerned about guix accepting such licensing terms.

live well,
  vagrant

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