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Ah, misleading comment on my part... I'm sure that using open source software wouldn't impact in the slightest. However, part of the legal contract between one party (in this case a company being subcontracted to do a particular segment of a considerably larger project) and the company subcontracting us (I think I've got that right) specifically states that we must sign come kind of "certificate of originality" stating that all the code is our own work. I read through it and the legal mumbo jumbo nearly blew my mind! At it's simplest, WE (the project manager and I) made the decision in this case to just avoid the subject since it was stuff I knew I could write myself anyway. More general, we ARE allowed to use external libraries, but we must declare that we have done so, and the use of those libraries must explicity go up for approval (which would also mean declaring WHICH external libraries specifically), and furthermore it implied the process would be of greater complexity if those libraries were open source (again, in my non-legal eyes). Presumably, although I don't know for sure, because the legal team would have to examine the exact wording of the license to understand what (if any) obligations there may be to credit the original authors and whether or not the resulting code would need to be made openly available or not (a no, no in this case). These things may or may not be in any particular open source license, it's not something I've ever really looked at, BUT the point is that the company would need to expend knowledge (which in a contracting scenario is ultimately time and money) in order to know IF there were any impact. Bottom line is that when faced with a scenario like that, myself and the project manager decided it would be far simpler to spend a couple of extra days (that's all it would take to do the image work that I could have used open source for) on my part to simply hold my hand up, say with all honesty that every line of code is my own and get on with it. Dispensing with any requirement to fulfil any legal obligations and go through any forms at all (except the one where I state such). And of course those extra couple of days that it adds are chargeable :o) Bottom line, it seems to be one of the ways that big corporations can work when dealing with code created by subcontractors. I've never some across it before, but maybe just because I've never been high enough up in the process before to be given it to look at! Yes, it does seem a little odd, but as far as I see it it's no big deal. It's another reason why I wouldn't really ever fancy working for a huge corporation. Too much red tape I feel (from an outsider looking in POV). Anyway, enougth ramblings on what may or may not have been. It seemed easier to do it myself :) Martin. -----Original Message----- From: owner-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Grant Sewell Sent: 22 March 2005 22:34 To: list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Legalities of libraries (was [LUG] Development) On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 16:19:37 +0000 Martin White wrote:
Often, even if libraries already exist to do something it is easier to write something from scratch than to
get the corporate wheels to approve the use of said third party library. Looking through the current legal contract of work it was even more true
if
the libraries were open source.
Call me naive (now don't all shout at once :D) but I just don't understand that. I was under the impression that most Free Software libraries were under the LGPL which allows their use in non-GPL software. And I thought that most other "open source" libraries were under licenses with similar clauses. So how would using these libraries impact on the legal state of affairs of the software being produced? Grant. -- Artificial intelligence is no match for nuratal stidutipy. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html