Re: [Octal-dev] distro issues, etc.

[Dave O'Toole]

> My alternative only requires reasonable notification of where the software
> has come from, which seems, in comparison to GPL, very free.  If we want

There's very little that I can say at this point. From my perspective,
it appears that you have released a number of plugins under the GPL but
then, suddenly, have read the license for the first time. 

I have given a very reasonable justification for why GNU is careful to
make sure that it has the right to distribute code before doing so. I
have explained that none of this requires you to assign your copyright
to anyone. I have explained that there is absolutely no price of
admission, not even the ink from your pen, for distributing Octal
plugins in other ways, such as the upcoming community site. None of
these issues is in dispute. 

But we are not dealing with a factual dispute here. (I assume this
because you have made no response to my statements of fact.) You have
expressed an unwillingness to participate in GPL-style free software for
philosophical reasons. Or, at least, I can't think of any other way to
read your comments. It sounds as if you now have some deep reservations
about using the GPL. This is fine.

I leave it to you to sort out what you think on this. I have neither the
time nor the inclination to persuade you, as it is a decision you must
make for yourself. Nor do I have any interest in starting a holy war on
this mailing list. No one would benefit from it.

I invite you to include your plugins in the sourceforge repository that
will be opening soon. 

> Modern software must not need to reinvent the wheel, and instead, quickly
> assemble together other authors' software from a variety of sources.  This
> is the great advantage of open-source software.  The originality is built
> upon the prior work of many others allowing easily, rapidly scaled
> software complexity.

You have just described the world free software made. 



-- 
@@@ david o'toole
@@@ address@hidden
@@@ www.gnu.org/software/octal