Harald Alvestrand <harald(_at_)alvestrand(_dot_)no> wrote:
The working group's non-consensus on this point is documented in section
4.4 of RFC 5377:
...
... of historical interest only, IMHO...
The "RFC 5378" license to the trust allows, for instance, the Trust to
grant the right of copying small snippets of code without attaching the
full BSD license to them. The current TLP does not give that right.
This is getting awfully deep into IANAL territory.
Since IANAL and I don't want to play one on TV, let me shift the focus
away from whether that distinction entails a difference -- to the question
of whether opening a discussion of such details tends to clarify or
confuse.
IMHO, it tends to confuse far more than it clarifies.
Incoming and outgoing rights for code are currently different.
Likewise, discussing that difference, IMHO, tends to confuse far more
than it clarifies.
I'm fairly convinced that there will come a time when we need to
relicense text that was previously licensed by the Trust in a way that
is more liberal than the current text of the TLP allows for (while
remaining within the scope of rights granted to the trust).
May I suggest that many of us don't share this conviction?
May I also suggest that opening such a question (where the IPR WG
couldn't reach consensus) doesn't seem terribly likely to find any quick
consensus?
May I suggest that punting such a question to some future group of
Trustees to decide for us is even less likely to find a quick consensus?
IETF participants admittedly tend towards paranoia. We should accept
this and avoid things which feed their paranoia. We should especially
(IMHO) avoid things that feed their paranoia with exactly the same food
as a previous round.
Please, Harald, do us a favor and accept the "BSD" license as "good
enough" for the "forseeable" future. Yes, we can all imagine scenarios
where something else would be "better", but we'd like to put something
to bed here so that RFC publication can stop stumbling over "license"
questions.
That's why I yell so much on this matter.
Your opinion is noted. You have our permission to say, "I told you so!"
when/if we're proven wrong.
--
John Leslie <john(_at_)jlc(_dot_)net>
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