From owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 16 00:37:32 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 59D5916A4CE for ; Thu, 16 Sep 2004 00:37:32 +0000 (GMT) Received: from basement.kutulu.org (211.215.33.65.cfl.rr.com [65.33.215.211]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 30D7043D1D for ; Thu, 16 Sep 2004 00:37:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from kutulu@kutulu.org) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (platypus.jungle [192.168.69.2]) by basement.kutulu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A26384D; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 20:37:31 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <4148E04C.3090001@kutulu.org> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 20:37:32 -0400 From: Mike Edenfield Organization: KutuluWare Software Services User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.7.2 (Windows/20040707) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Glenn Sieb References: <20040915093120.3067472e@dolphin.local.net> <3.0.5.32.20040915104438.01f2dda0@sage-american.com> <200409151833.55714.michaelnottebrock@gmx.net> <20040915175615.11c92103@zork> <4148DDC5.403@kutulu.org> <4148DEA3.7070306@wingfoot.org> In-Reply-To: <4148DEA3.7070306@wingfoot.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Drop of portindex X-BeenThere: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting software to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 00:37:32 -0000 Glenn Sieb wrote: > Mike Edenfield said the following on 9/15/2004 8:26 PM: > >> Of course, the author clearly doesn't want his software distributed, >> so it would (IMO) violate the spirit of community software development >> to go against his wishes, but the legal footing for the package is >> pretty confusing. > > > I'd be more concerned with what else he's planning on contributing and > yanking back when it gets "too popular." > > Didn't he mention working on writable ufs2 snapshots? What would happen > to his contributed code should he decide to pull a "portindex" again? :-/ The solution, based on past experience, is to demand a clarified copyright license up front. Either the author uses a license you are ok with, or you avoid using the software. It's an author's right, as unpopular as it may be, to change licensing terms whenever he or she wants. Of course, I think it should be pointed out that people who *already have* copies of portindex shouldn't rush to uninstall it because copyright permission has been revoked. If the copies were made beforehand, it's very clear that the author knowingly and willingly allowed (even actively assisted in) making copies of the software for FreeBSD users. I suspect that results in some sort of very limited implicit license: if I put a stack of articles I wrote on my front lawn with a big sign saying "Take One" I can't exactly complain when people take one. Even if the author seemed to want to go around trying to revoke rights to all those copies, I'm not entire sure he would have much luck unless *new* copies were being made. --Mike