On Thu, 2007-09-27 at 10:03 +0100, Martyn Russell wrote: > I wouldn't re-license it [there is tons of both context and history here, which the rest of this thread covers. On the topic of licencing, however:] I must admit that as an advocate of software freedom and as someone who works for a firm that releases its work under the GPL, I am not adverse to the idea of a GNOME library being licenced under the GPL only. I realize full well that there is a certain fraction of the wider universe of people who use the GNOME platform who are using it under the pragmatic terms of the LGPL to write their proprietary software. Some of those companies contribute to our community their IP and their employees' time, and that's fantastic. I hugely respect, however, the expression that has been made by people who wrote software under the GPL that they wish it to remain so licenced. That's their call, and it is effectively final. Meanwhile, as has been pointed out, the various IM-enabling components being discussed are something that GNOME has been hunting after for some time now. So if formally endorsing Empathy (when ready, etc) means GPL licenced libraries start working their way in to the higher levels of the stack, I think that would be entirely consonant with the aim of the GNOME community to produce an outstanding free software Desktop and related technologies. [And it's not like the lower levels of the stack are about to be re-licenced in more restrictive terms to meet some puritanical streak, I just don't think that people considering contributing new libraries etc should feel forced into not using the GPL if that's what they want to do] AfC Sydney -- Andrew Frederick Cowie We are an operations engineering consultancy focusing on strategy, organizational architecture, systems review, and change management procedures: enabling successful use of open source in mission critical enterprises, worldwide. http://www.operationaldynamics.com/ Sydney New York Toronto London
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