On Sat, Jan 9, 2016 at 12:08 AM, Sven Van Caekenberghe <sven@stfx.eu> wrote:
Hi,
I have a been wondering recently about attribution under the MIT License.
Code in Pharo and code contributed to Pharo is and should be licensed under the MIT License.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License
Contributors sign an extra agreement.
http://files.pharo.org/media/PharoSoftwareDistributionAgreement.pdf
Here, contributors give a license so Pharo can include their code.
As I read the MIT license the original author keeps the copyright and about the only requirement is that that copyright shall be included when the code is used. The extra agreement does not transfer copyright.
So, all authors should be mentioned in the general Pharo MIT license.
The reason I was thinking about this is that many people on the list seems to be under the impression that MIT licensed code means that you can freely copy it, like most recently in the discussions about Dophin Smalltalk. I think copying MIT licensed code requires proper attribution.
The MIT license allows you to sub-license, so technically I guess you could re-license it to someone (or back to yourself) with the attribution requirement removed. But that would be really be bad form. Eric Raymond says it well [1]: "the Lockean property customs of hackerdom are a means of maximizing reputation incentives; of ensuring that peer credit goes where it is due and does not go where it is not due. ... Surreptitiously filing someone's name off a project is, in cultural context, one of the ultimate crimes. Doing this steals the victim's gift to be presented as the thief's own. [1] http://catb.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/homesteading/ar01s09.html
If people copy (my, someone else's) code from Pharo to somewhere else, I want them to at least acknowledge that fact, preferably include a general Pharo (contributors) copyright, but ideally (my, their) copyright.
But that would also mean that Pharo has to do the same. I think we should list and update the official contributor list, including the historical list of original authors going back.
Am I right or wrong ?
How do other people feel about this ?
I agree with you. Paying attention to this sort of thing builds community trust and involvement. cheers -ben