9fans archive / 2000 / 06 / 99 /    prev next

From: presotto@pla...
Subject: Re: [9fans] Plan 9 Binaries and Source for Free
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 17:47:22 -0400

Hudson brings up a good point.  You should read the license before
you agree to it.  Our intent is to get back improvements to the code,
put them in the code base,  and to keep the code base plus
modifications freely available.  That may or may not match the
wording in the license but its what we're going to do.

Products like new device drivers, programs, file systems, etc. that
just call the kernel and library functions and don't include Lucent
code, are not modifications.  They're just additions that noone has
to share if they don't want to.  However, fixing current stuff,
reworking chan.c, etc. are modifications and we'ld like them back
to include in the code base.

As for the clause on losing rights if you sue another contributor,
that seemed a little spacey to me too.  I'ld like to get a
clarification from the lawyers on how broad 'any' is defined to
be in (ii) below:

	The licenses and rights granted under this Agreement shall terminate
	automatically if
 	(i) You fail to comply with all of the terms and conditions herein; or
	(ii) You initiate or participate in any intellectual property action
	   against Original Contributor and/or another Contributor.

We'ld be happy to hear about other problems people have with the
license.  I don't expect that it'll change the license any but
perhaps we can get clarification from the lawyers.  At the
very least you shouldn't be buying a pig in a polk.