[dokuwiki] Re: GPL for plugins a must?
- From: Robinson Tryon <bishop.robinson@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: dokuwiki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:38:28 -0400
On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Michael Hamann
<michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Plugins are considered as derivative work by some people and also the
> Free Software Foundation because they use DokuWiki as basis. This is a
> topic that is discussed very controversially, search for GPL plugins and
> you find tons of blog articles and discussions, many from Wordpress
> which should is imho similar to DokuWiki in that respect. I've just
> found http://www.law.washington.edu/lta/swp/law/derivative.html which
> explains this "problem" of derivative works a bit more.
>
>
> I don't know what Andi plans ;), but I think it is unlikely that somebody
> will sue you for releasing plugins under a BSD license.
>
I could believe that the copyright holders are unlikely to sue the
*author*, however if plugin "P" is (per the lawyers) considered to be
a derivative work of the primary software "S," then releasing P under
an incompatible license (e.g. GPL -> NewBSD) would, at the very least,
be quite misleading.
If I see a library or piece of software released under the NewBSD
license, I generally believe that I may combine it with GPLed software
(of any version). In the absence of any other information, I generally
believe that whoever slapped the license on the code believe that they
had the right to do so. As such, if you put a NewBSD license on a
plugin for Dokuwiki, then you are telegraphing to downstream
recipients the fact that you believe that the contents of your plugin
may be distributed under the NewBSD license, and effectively attesting
that your plugin is not a derivative work of the primary, GPLed
software.
To help downstream recipients, if you choose an interpretation of the
GPL that may be likely to be overturned in the courts (e.g. this
not-a-deriv view), I would suggest that you include a note to this
effect with the license or mentions of the license, for maximum
disclosure.
Of course, IANAL, so take everything I say with a shaker of salt!
Cheers,
--R
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