[Pharo-project] legal counsel for pharo?
A question recently came up on the squeak-dev mailing list about the legality of including GPL code in Squeak core, as to where the line might be. This is especially interesting because of the OpenQwaq release recently. I was able to answer the question for Squeak core definitively by saying "if you have questions, Squeak is part of the SFC, so we have legal representation through the SFLC". This permits potential contributors to get free legal advice about whether their code would be permitted into Squeak core without violating the Apache/MIT license. Which got me wondering, for Pharo, what's the equivalent? Have you guys retained a lawyer or other arrangements for which you can sort out license issues? Who is the "SFLC" equivalent for Pharo? -- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 <merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/> Smalltalk/Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. See http://methodsandmessages.posterous.com/ for Smalltalk discussion
Randall what is the position of squeak regarding the inclusion of qwak code in squeak? Stef On May 12, 2011, at 3:11 AM, Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
A question recently came up on the squeak-dev mailing list about the legality of including GPL code in Squeak core, as to where the line might be. This is especially interesting because of the OpenQwaq release recently.
I was able to answer the question for Squeak core definitively by saying "if you have questions, Squeak is part of the SFC, so we have legal representation through the SFLC". This permits potential contributors to get free legal advice about whether their code would be permitted into Squeak core without violating the Apache/MIT license.
Which got me wondering, for Pharo, what's the equivalent? Have you guys retained a lawyer or other arrangements for which you can sort out license issues? Who is the "SFLC" equivalent for Pharo?
-- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 <merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/> Smalltalk/Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. See http://methodsandmessages.posterous.com/ for Smalltalk discussion
"Stéphane" == Stéphane Ducasse <stephane.ducasse@inria.fr> writes:
Stéphane> what is the position of squeak regarding the inclusion of qwak Stéphane> code in squeak? GPL code is incompatible with Squeak core, because it taints the entire distribution. (LGPL code *might* be permitted, but nobody has asked the question firmly enough yet. We'll have to consult counsel at that point.) Since OpenQwak is GPLv2, code from that distro is not allowed. However, some of the upstream components are released under a compatible license, and could be included if offered. It would *not* be possible to take the downstream patches from OpenQwak though, as once again, that would taint the distro. -- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 <merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/> Smalltalk/Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. See http://methodsandmessages.posterous.com/ for Smalltalk discussion
On May 12, 2011, at 4:03 PM, Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
"Stéphane" == Stéphane Ducasse <stephane.ducasse@inria.fr> writes:
Stéphane> what is the position of squeak regarding the inclusion of qwak Stéphane> code in squeak?
GPL code is incompatible with Squeak core, because it taints the entire distribution.
(LGPL code *might* be permitted, but nobody has asked the question firmly enough yet. We'll have to consult counsel at that point.)
Since OpenQwak is GPLv2, code from that distro is not allowed. However, some of the upstream components are released under a compatible license, and could be included if offered.
what is an upstream component? How could openqwak can release a component not GPL if Qwak is GPL?
It would *not* be possible to take the downstream patches from OpenQwak though, as once again, that would taint the distro.
-- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 <merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/> Smalltalk/Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. See http://methodsandmessages.posterous.com/ for Smalltalk discussion
"Stéphane" == Stéphane Ducasse <stephane.ducasse@inria.fr> writes:
Since OpenQwak is GPLv2, code from that distro is not allowed. However, some of the upstream components are released under a compatible license, and could be included if offered.
Stéphane> what is an upstream component? There were some pieces (like Tweak) available under a friendly license that were incorporated into OpenQwak and then modified. The original upstream distro is still available under the friendy license, but the version *as it exists* in OpenQwak is GPLv2, and cannot be used. -- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 <merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/> Smalltalk/Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. See http://methodsandmessages.posterous.com/ for Smalltalk discussion
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Stéphane Ducasse