[liblouis-liblouisxml] Re: GNU license and MBraille

  • From: Simon Aittamaa <simon.aittamaa@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: liblouis-liblouisxml@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 08:50:52 +0100

While I personally think this would be a sane approach, I would definitely
advice you to check this with a lawyer. Last time a license change was up
for discussion for the Linux kernel, I think the consensus was that it
would be impossible to change the license of Linux, since it would be
impossible to get consent from each and every contributor. Then again,
there are a lot of non-lawyers on LKML...

Just out of curiosity, do we know how many have decided not to use liblouis
due to the license? And how many of these are due to "concerns" regarding
the license and how many are due to actual problems, e.g. restrictions in
place by distributors such as AppStore and Windows Store?

Best,
Simon

On 15 January 2015 at 18:18, Keith Creasy <kcreasy@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> John.
>
> Perhaps it would be better to post that we plan to make the change and
> then allow a period of time for anyone to respond. If no one objects we
> then take that as agreement. Probably should post it on this list and on
> the web site. Many things are handled that way so that if, later on down
> the road, someone complains or sues someone we can show that we made
> reasonable efforts to inform and get a response. 90 days should be
> sufficient for anyone who objects to respond. We also have to provide
> instructions for submitting a response or objection so there's no
> confusion. Anyone who responds should also be prepared to identify the
> portion of the LibLouis project they believe they hold rights to.
>
>
> I'm not an attorney but can't imagine that this wouldn't work. Many things
> with much more serious consequences are handled in this manner.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: liblouis-liblouisxml-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> liblouis-liblouisxml-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Gardner
> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 12:08 PM
> To: liblouis-liblouisxml@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [liblouis-liblouisxml] Re: GNU license and MBraille
>
> Hello all, it would be a great help for anybody willing to volunteer a bit
> of time to help us complete polling the list for permission to change the
> license to LGPL2.1.  Several months ago I wrote to all the people for whom
> I had contact information asking for permission for such a change.
>
> Christian has dug out a few more addresses but many contributors are just
> names on the list.  It would be really good for everybody on this list to
> review those names and
> * if you are on that list, please respond with your agreement to change
> the license,
> * if you know anybody whose address is not given, contact them for
> permission or send the contact information to Christian or me.
>
> All major contributors have agreed to the change. If there are any
> remaining contributors who object to the change, we will remove their
> contributions from liblouis so we can move ahead.  We have discussed this
> issue thoroughly, and there seems to be no good reason to object to the
> change, so I am optimistic that we will not need to do any removals.
>
> Thanks!
>
> John Gardner
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: liblouis-liblouisxml-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> liblouis-liblouisxml-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Christian Egli
> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 8:03 AM
> To: liblouis-liblouisxml@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [liblouis-liblouisxml] Re: GNU license and MBraille
>
>
> On 01/13/2015 11:25 PM, Mesar Hameed wrote:
> > In any case, Bert and Christian made a list of those that have
> > contributed and need to give their consent.
> Well Bert made the list really and John contacted most of the people on
> the list.
>
> > Lets wait for an update from Christian (last person worked on this) to
> > let us know how far through we have gone, and how many people still need
> to be tracked down.
> Well, the whole process is tracked in
> https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis/issues/26. Currently we have consent
> from 57 out of 109 contributors. Someone should try to make an effort to
> contact the remaining people (again, this time only asking for a move to
> LGPL2.1 though). I'd be happy to help.
>
> Thanks
> Christian
>
> For a description of the software, to download it and links to project
> pages go to http://www.abilitiessoft.com     z +  b z     pj    0 Z v+Z
> b K-    -
> -  m       X   ,  \
>

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