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Friday July 14, 2006

PJ on the LGPL You know that there is some strange thing going on when you read a blog and you can't put it down like a good novel. My afflication happens to be about how the intersection of law and technology enable creativity. So I'm sure many of you already have PJ in RSS but I just have to comment on LGPL - A change on the way.

For those playing along at home there are many different, interesting elements -- this article is full of TTATT:

• First we have the ongoing silliness that is the SCO trial. It will be nice once this is over and we can finally rest with this cloud removed from Linux.
• Next is the principal topic: that the LGPL will be an extension to the GPL. This will avoid redundancy and is crafted such that the software could be released under the strict GPL. This is significant in introducing the role of optional "permissions" to part of a license framework (while avoiding license proliferation).
• Then there's the clarification that restricting commercial uses of GPL code is a contradiction. This is an important point because I've encountered some very strong F/LOSS advocates who continue to hold the view that GPL works cannot be used commercially. It's also important to reiterate this in the context of Eben Moglen's clarification of the the system library exception. (NOTE: this is important for, among other things, the Nexenta OS).
• There is a discussion of how BitTorrent technology has required a re-thinking of what the definition of the roles of licensor and licensee mean in the GPL. That really hits home because we've spent a great deal of energy on the DLJ trying to handle complex distribution relationships.
• As usual PJ makes content available in a open format (in this case Theora). It's ironic because we were chatting about open formats today on IRC (and how one of the developer's company's products supports them). I'm a big fan of open formats. Today I tried to watch an internal RealPlayer webcast on Linux -- basically this doesn't work (disclaimer: over the years there have been points in time when RealPlayer or Helix did work on Linux, but they have been rare. And part of the problem was this webcast was very much in demand: it was Jonathan talking about Open Source).
• And la cerise sûr le gateau is the difference in formulations between hackers and lawyers as demonstrated by debian-legal. Having spent some quality time on d-l I can really relate to that -- from both sides. True, as a non-lawyer I tend to view law as a "hard arthropod carapace for internal soft organs". And I have the utmost respect for the d-l contributors I met at DebConf -- they really want to keep this community in which so many have made such a huge investment safe from harm. By understanding these issues -- and talking about them -- the Debian community, the FSF as well as hackers and corporations can come to greater understanding.