[Mono-devel-list] ByteFX development

[Rob.Tillie at Student.tUL.EDU]

Hey guyz,

I'm trying to understand all of this, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I understand the point that if I change GPL code, I have to give that back.
But what use is it for someone to say: "Hey, my code is GPL, so if you use
it, yours has got to be too!".
Obviously, for MySql, it's just a way to enforce commercial companies to buy
their other license.
But why would a normal programmer release something he made in his free time
under the GPL unless he is some sort of control freak? 
Because, in fact, he is saying: "Dude, I love this license so much that you
HAVE to use it too if you use my code." Which would result in the GPL
license totally not being some kind of open-source / free software license
because it is forcing me to do something.

Greetz,
-- Rob.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Massimiliano Mantione [mailto:massi at ximian.com]
> Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 9:15 AM
> To: Joshua Tauberer; Mono devel list
> Subject: Re: [Mono-devel-list] ByteFX development
> 
> On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 17:05, Joshua Tauberer wrote:
> > On the other hand, written protocol specifications are protected by
> > copyright law.  Can you read a specification and then implement a
> > program that follows it without creating a derivative work?  This I
> > don't know.
> 
> I should be hacking, and not pretending to do a lawyer's job
> (which I don't like, IANAL, standard disclaimer...).
> 
> Anyway, remember that writing a commentary to a copyrighted book is
> not a copyright violation, even if the commentary is as long as the
> whole book, and more of less indirectly exposes all the contents of
> the book, provided that you do not *copy* the book in the commentary
> (it is *copy*right we're talking about).
> 
> It is often said that copyright protects the "form", not the
> "meaning".
> 
> In the same way, if you do not copy substantial portions of the
> protocol specification text inside the code of your implementation
> (one wonders why you'll ever do it) you cannot commit a copyright
> infringement writing your code.
> 
> And yes, even if you use some specific words (like PDU names) from
> the specification you should be safe.
> 
> Otherwise, I think no protocol could be implemented!
> 
> Ciao,
>   Massi
> 
> 
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