Re: [avr-libc-dev] Licensing issue

[E. Weddington]

On 20 Feb 2004 at 23:22, Joerg Wunsch wrote:

> As address@hidden wrote:
> 
> > I would like to have a single text that would cover the entire
> > library, so that I would not have to trace down exactly what files
> > are used in each project, whatever gets linked in is
> > covered. Ideally it also would be concise and not take 20 pages to
> > print.
> 
> The problem is, even if I'll eventually finish that mini-project to
> provide a single boiled-down version of all the individual copyright
> notices, legally, you're bound to what the individual files do state.
> After all, avr-libc might be a nice project, but it's not a legal
> entity, so there's no other option for all the developers than putting
> their name on top of the file, and copy another copyright statement
> right over there.
> 
> That's the legal status.  Even for more formalized projects, like
> FreeBSD (where I've spent a lot of time as well), I've seen large
> companies (like Nokia) violate the very basic requirements of the (not
> very strict) BSD-style copyright.  So as long as you adhere to the
> spirit of the individual copyrights, and just mention a list of the
> developers plus the copyright notice itself, I think you'll do a great
> job on this, and nobody will sue you for that.  (So far, I didn't sue
> Nokia either, even though they clearly violate at least one of my own
> copyrights. ;-)

I agree in spirit with this.

In my *personal opinion*, I'm ok with "Copyright developers of avr-libc" and a 
pointer to the project web site. But, again, that's my personal opinion and 
other developers may surely have a different one.

I will admit that I am disappointed that some files are 2-clause and others are 
3-clause. I wish that this could be remedied to have a single license 
applicable to all the modules. I *thought* that this was supposed to be the 
case a while back, but I haven't gone through the project and checked.

My 2 cents.
Eric