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http://www.dclug.org.uk/archive/2004/09/msg00046.html Back in September, Robin complained about the behaviour of a developer who took a project out of a quasi-open source licence (the Aladdin Free Public Licence which is neither OSI or GNU accredited but which does require the publication of the source code) and into a full EULA, Microsoft style. The licence for version 4 (the only version currently available direct from the main developer) states: "Licensor hereby grants to You a personal, royalty-free, nonsublicensable, nontransferable, nonexclusive license to use the Product. You agree not to reproduce or distribute any portion of the Product or any work that incorporates any portion of the Product in source code or executable form without the express written consent of the Licensor." This made Robin understandably angry as he had contributed to this project but was unwilling to publicly name the project at that time. Several things then happened: 1. I and others on the list investigated the various options for Robin (the discussion is in the archive). 2. Off-list, I dug around in the Google cache and found the project still being hosted on Berlios - a site akin to SourceForge but which allows proprietary and non-standard licences like Aladdin. Quick as a flash, I downloaded every version that I could find. ;-) 3. I inspected the licences for each version - v3.0, v3.1, v3.2 and v3.3 were all under the Aladdin Free Public Licence. This licence states: " This License attempts to ensure that those who receive, redistribute, and contribute to the licensed Program according to the Open Source and Free Software philosophies have the right to do so, (a) You may copy and distribute literal (i.e., verbatim) copies of the Program's source code as you receive it throughout the world, in any medium. (b) You may modify the Program, create works based on the Program and distribute copies of such throughout the world, in any medium. " v4 was the first to have the restrictive licence. 4. After discussions with Robin, we decided to keep copies of all releases covered by the Aladdin licence on our own systems, pending further activity by the admin for the project on Berlios. 5. Surprise, surprise, I happened to check back to Berlios a few days ago and found that ALL the files had been removed - the project was essentially dead and no code was left to download from Berlios, of any version, nor from any other site that I could find - except the site for the v4 code. He didn't break the licence because he stopped distributing the old version of the program and the source code together. Anyone wanting to develop on a project that was until recently listing the source code openly, now has to pay a significant fee to one developer. 6. Feeling bereft, I took another VERY close look at the licence. Nothing in the Aladdin Free Public Licence prevented me from re-distributing the code that I had already downloaded from a legitimate source under a legitimate licence. (Prompt action was the key here.) 7. RESULT! I've nothing to hide so here are the details! The project is called FEMM - Finite Element Method Magnetics and I decided to host all legitimate versions on my own site: http://femm.neil.williamsleesmill.me.uk/ Although the project itself is unlikely to be of interest, the story shows that once a piece of source code is published under an open licence - even one that is not particularly compatible or even recognised as properly open source (let alone as free software) - the code remains covered by that licence and the provisions within, even if subsequent versions change to a different licence. In effect, I've decided to fork the FEMM project and as soon as anyone has time to do anything with it, it can be hosted on Berlios again and there will be nothing anyone can do to prevent this - I am doing what is explicitly allowed by the licence for the source code in question. The story also illustrates the power of authorship - the original developer chose the Aladdin Free Public Licence. I am unable to change the licence to the GNU GPL because this would need the permission of that developer (as well as all the others but this would be much easier as other parts of the program are already public domain). However, his choice of Aladdin has had powerful repercussions for his future releases. The Aladdin licence for the older versions cannot be repealed. It was in force when I downloaded the code and it remains in force for that version of the code until it can be shown in court to be invalid. So whilst it is not likely to be free software, the project is no longer lost to the community. A small but important victory. Of course it would be better if the licence could be changed to GNU GPL and if this becomes possible I will do so immediately, but for now, at least the program and the full source code prior to v4 is still available. It's also important to note that I have no direct involvement in the FEMM project, I haven't contributed code and nothing in the project itself is copyrighted to me. Anyone could have done this and anyone is free to download the files and host them on any other website anywhere, as long as the Aladdin Free Public Licence is retained within the downloadable code and no fee is charged for downloading (one of the stranger features of the Aladdin licence). -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.codehelp.co.uk/ http://www.dclug.org.uk/ http://www.isbn.org.uk/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/isbnsearch/ http://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x8801094A28BCB3E3
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