[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On Tuesday 22 March 2005 11:52 pm, Martin White wrote:
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).
Not true - be careful here (again) with open source vs free software. Free software licences are generally more strict than a lot of open source licences and one GNU GPL compatible free software licence is easy to compare to another. An open source licence can be a pig-in-a-poke that has almost no common ground with another, apparently similar, open source licence. Just because a licence is accepted as open source, does not mean it has more than a passing similarity to any other. Free software licences are far easier to compare. Basically you have to compare your code use *by licence* not by origin.
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).
This illustrates the difference - free software licences make this examination much easier than a comparison between approved open source licences.
These things may or may not be in any particular open source license, it's not something I've ever really looked at
Please make sure you DO look at this *before* you get into free software / open source development. You will regret it otherwise.
, 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.
Stick to licences that are compatible with the GNU GPL (the gnu.org website has a nice list with differences highlighted) and the whole thing becomes much easier to handle. Far easier than any proprietary library. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.dcglug.org.uk/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/isbnsearch/ http://www.neil.williamsleesmill.me.uk/ http://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x8801094A28BCB3E3
Attachment:
pgp00021.pgp
Description: PGP signature