Other Directory Sites: SeekWonder | Directory Owners Forum
The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Sat Apr 10 1999 - 01:15:19
Theodore Y. Ts'o (tytso@MIT.EDU)
Fri, 2 Oct 1998 20:06:51 -0400
If the goal is to write code which can be used widely, including in
commercial programs as well as GPL programs, then an easy way to do this
is to release it under multiple licenses. You as the copyright owner
can do that, after all.
For example, here's the copyright and license statement on Linux's
/dev/random driver, which I crafted in the hopes that it would be used
in other operating systems, including commercial ones. By giving the
user a choice of either a GPL or BSD-style license, it makes it more
likely that license "impedence mismatches" won't be reason why someone
won't use my code.
(I've also made money off of GPL'ed code by selling commercial licenses
to code for which I held sole ownership, and which I had already
released under GPL ---- but if a company wanted to use my GPL'ed code in
their propeitary software, they would have to pay me first. There are
plenty of inventive ways one can use the GPL if you understand copyright
law, but that's wandering far afield of the scope of this mailing list.)
- Ted
/*
* random.c -- A strong random number generator
*
* Version 1.04, last modified 26-Apr-98
*
* Copyright Theodore Ts'o, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998. All rights
* reserved.
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
* 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
* notice, and the entire permission notice in its entirety,
* including the disclaimer of warranties.
* 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
* documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* 3. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote
* products derived from this software without specific prior
* written permission.
*
* ALTERNATIVELY, this product may be distributed under the terms of
* the GNU Public License, in which case the provisions of the GPL are
* required INSTEAD OF the above restrictions. (This clause is
* necessary due to a potential bad interaction between the GPL and
* the restrictions contained in a BSD-style copyright.)
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
* WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
* OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
* DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
* INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
* (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
* SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
* HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
* STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
* ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED
* OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*/
- Ted
The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Sat Apr 10 1999 - 01:15:19