www/licenses license-list.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       14/01/28 10:13:09

Modified files:
        licenses       : license-list.html 

Log message:
        (Informal license): New item.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/licenses/license-list.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.389&r2=1.390

Patches:
Index: license-list.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/licenses/license-list.html,v
retrieving revision 1.389
retrieving revision 1.390
diff -u -b -r1.389 -r1.390
--- license-list.html   8 Jan 2014 01:31:25 -0000       1.389
+++ license-list.html   28 Jan 2014 10:13:08 -0000      1.390
@@ -507,6 +507,31 @@
 this license.</p></dd>
 
 
+<dt><a id="informal">
+    Informal license</a>
+    <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a 
href="#informal">#informal</a>)</span></dt>
+<dd>
+<p>An &ldquo;informal license&rdquo; means a statement such as
+&ldquo;do whatever you like with this&rdquo; or &ldquo;you can
+redistribute this code and change it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In the United States, these licenses are supposed to be interpreted
+based on what the author seems to intend.  So they probably mean what
+they appear to mean.  That would make them non-copyleft free software
+licenses and compatible with the GNU GPL.  However, an unlucky choice
+of wording could give it a different meaning.</p>
+
+<p>However, many other countries have a more rigid approach to
+copyright licenses.  There is no telling what courts in those
+countries might decide an informal statement means.  Courts might
+even decide that it is not a license at all.</p>
+
+<p>If you want your code to be free, don't invite gratuitous trouble
+for your users.  Please choose and apply an established free software
+license.  We offer <a href="/licenses/license-recommendations.html">
+recommendations</a> that we suggest you follow.</p></dd>
+
+
 <dt><a id="intel"
       href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/License:IntelACPI";>
     Intel Open Source License</a>
@@ -2283,7 +2308,7 @@
 
 <p>Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2014/01/08 01:31:25 $
+$Date: 2014/01/28 10:13:08 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>