Re: [E-devel] COPYING & spec files

[Rui M. S. S. <rm...@14...>]

Em 16-08-2010 23:03, Michael Jennings escreveu:
> On Monday, 16 August 2010, at 09:41:37 (-0300),
> Andres Blanc wrote:
> 
>> Edje's COPYING file[1] is quite similar to the Vorbis BSD-Like
>> license[2] which was endorsed by Stallman[3] itself.
> 
> I think you misunderstood.  Stallman wasn't endorsing the license.  He
> was endorsing the change in that *particular* instance because it
> furthers his overall agenda:  providing Free alternatives for all
> Non-Free software.
> 
> His opinion of that BSD license, like any other, is the same:  it is
> not Good and Right because it fails to guarantee the freedoms of
> software recipients.

An important consideration to make in such statements is that that would
only be true if one is talking about the original BSD license...

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OriginalBSD

...which includes what's known as the "obnoxious advertising clause".

What most people think of when they say "bsd license" nowadays is
actually the "Modified BSD" or "three-clause BSD" license.

If one reads what he writes about it in...

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#ModifiedBSD

... one can actually read an endorsement:

	If you want a simple, permissive non-copyleft free software
	license, the modified BSD license is a reasonable choice.
	However, it is risky to recommend use of “the BSD license”,
	because confusion could easily occur and lead to use of the
	flawed original BSD license. To avoid this risk, you can
	suggest the X11 license instead. The X11 license and the
	revised BSD license are more or less equivalent.

	This license is sometimes referred to as the 3-clause BSD
	license.

Rui

ps: just clarifying a common myth and misjudgement of Stallman's positions