Re: [gentoo-project] eudev project announcement

[Richard Yao <ryao@gentoo.org>]

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On 12/15/2012 07:48 AM, Rich Freeman wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 10:52 PM, Richard Yao <ryao@gentoo.org> wrote:
>>         The systemd developers were in the middle of a transition to the LGPL
>> from the GPL when we forked. We inherited the code in the middle of that
>> transition and we see no reason to pursue a different course. Therefore,
>> all future changes that we make to eudev will be available under the LGPL.
> 
> Not sure what the driver is to use LGPL, but in general the Gentoo
> social contract requires that all contributions be made under GPLv2+
> or the CC BY-SAv2+.  I'm sure exceptions can be made if they make
> sense and are aligned with Gentoo's mission (likely something that
> would fall on the Foundation to approve).  If eudev were a non-Gentoo
> project then Gentoo could depend on it as long as it used any
> OSI-approved license.
> 
> Why not just use GPLv2+?  The LGPL is compatible, so this would not
> prevent us from merging udev changes.
> 
> Not suggesting that we shouldn't use the LGPL if there is a good
> reason to do so that is aligned with Gentoo's mission.  I would just
> like to understand the reason for it.
> 
> Rich
> 

The GPLv2 would be great if we wanted to prevent systemd and others from
being able to make use of our work. An argument could be made that we
should prevent them from being able to use it. However, our work is
meant for all, including people with different priorities. In addition,
Gentoo has a long history of respecting project licenses. Given that we
forked from a project that was transitioning to the LGPL, it would make
sense to continue on that course. If that is inappropriate, then we
would need some kind of Gentoo-wide decision to stop licensing patches
in the portage tree under non-GPL licenses. This would also prevent us
from patching software that is under GPL-incompatible, yet OSI-approved
licenses, such as the CDDL.


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