[guardian-dev] Code License

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

Unfortunately with copyright law, "seems to be" is not good enough.
Everything is automatically copyrighted with "all rights reserved", that is
the default license.  If we want to continue working with the sources in
PixelKnot, then we should confirm that it is indeed Free Software.  The best
way is to contact the author and get them to say so explicitly, and request
that the add a license to their sources.

Otherwise, we might just be surprised some day to find out that the library
that we based the app off of has been taken away from us and turned proprietary.

.hc

On 07/23/2013 12:10 PM, Mark Belinsky wrote:
> Some of the origin code is not specifically labeled, but seems to be open.
> My concern is mostly with not being able to find the license of Ortega.
> However, f5, which incorporates it is GPL. Therefore, I've included all the
> info on prior work and kept it GPL as the tools we're based on have already
> claimed it.
> 
> Here's what I'm pushing to git:
> 
> /**
>  * This software is based in part on the work of
>  * James R. Weeks/BioElectroMech, james at obrador.com, and the Independent
>  * JPEG Group (package james)
>  * Sean Breslin/Dr. Ortega (package ortega)
>  *
>  * Original F5 Algo: Andreas Westfeld, westfeld at inf.tu-dresden.de,
> http://www.inf.tu-dresden.de/~aw4
>  * F5 Algo in Java: Christoph Gaffga, cgaffga at gmail.com,
> https://code.google.com/p/f5-steganography
>  * The rest of this software is released under the GPL
>  *
>  * PixelKnot is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
>  * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
>  * version 3 (GPLv3) as published by the Free Software Foundation.
>  *
>  * PixelKnot is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
>  * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
>  * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
>  * GNU General Public License for more details.
>  *
>  * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
>  * along with this program; if not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/ or
> write to the Free Software
>  * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
>  02110-1301, USA
> **/
> 
> 
> --*
> @mbelinsky <https://twitter.com/mbelinsky> | guardianproject.info | phone:
> +1-347-466-9327 | ostel: mark **| pgp:
> 0xEFBFA7278D8EFFDA<http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xEFBFA7278D8EFFDA>
> *
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 11:39 AM, Hans-Christoph Steiner <
> hans at guardianproject.info> wrote:
> 
>>
>> In general, GPLv3 is the most compatible license, so easiest to use with
>> other
>> licenses. Check the licenses of the other software included in PixelKnot to
>> make sure its GPLv3 compatible.  There are some free software licenses that
>> are not, like early versions of Apple's license (APSL), projects marked
>> "GPLv2
>> ONLY" like the Linux kernel, etc.
>>
>> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#GPLIncompatibleLicenses
>>
>> .hc
>>
>> On 07/23/2013 10:14 AM, Mark Belinsky wrote:
>>> We just got a request for Pixelknot to be more explicit about the license
>>> it's under. I imagine that we should probably put that at the end of each
>>> project readme on github, as well as a file. Right now, I think we only
>>> have https://guardianproject.info/code/licenses/, which doesn't detail
>> it.
>>>
>>> I can add GPL to Orweb.
>>>
>>> I imagine that PixelKnot is to also be licensed under GPL v3? Or are
>> there
>>> any restrictions from the code that we used?
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Mark
>>>
>>>
>>> --*
>>> @mbelinsky <https://twitter.com/mbelinsky> | guardianproject.info |
>> phone:
>>> +1-347-466-9327 | ostel: mark **| pgp:
>>> 0xEFBFA7278D8EFFDA<
>> http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xEFBFA7278D8EFFDA>
>>> *
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Guardian-dev mailing list
>>>
>>> Post: Guardian-dev at lists.mayfirst.org
>>> List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/guardian-dev
>>>
>>> To Unsubscribe
>>>         Send email to:  Guardian-dev-unsubscribe at lists.mayfirst.org
>>>         Or visit:
>> https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/options/guardian-dev/hans%40guardianproject.info
>>>
>>> You are subscribed as: hans at guardianproject.info
>>>
>>
>> --
>> PGP fingerprint: 5E61 C878 0F86 295C E17D  8677 9F0F E587 374B BE81
>> _______________________________________________
>> Guardian-dev mailing list
>>
>> Post: Guardian-dev at lists.mayfirst.org
>> List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/guardian-dev
>>
>> To Unsubscribe
>>         Send email to:  Guardian-dev-unsubscribe at lists.mayfirst.org
>>         Or visit:
>> https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/options/guardian-dev/mark%40guardianproject.info
>>
>> You are subscribed as: mark at guardianproject.info
>>
> 

-- 
PGP fingerprint: 5E61 C878 0F86 295C E17D  8677 9F0F E587 374B BE81