[Opensim-dev] GPL / BSD licensing dangers

[Neil Canham]

Thanks Diva (and Robert), that makes sense.

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 2:02 PM, Diva Canto <diva at metaverseink.com> wrote:

>  The issue here is not BSD+GPL licenses in general, although that's also an
> issue to worry about; the issue we most vocally warn people about is very
> specific to OpenSim and Second Life. OpenSim has been made legally possible
> due to the generosity of Linden Lab's publishing their protocols by means of
> some public documentation and, yes, open sourcing the client [under GPL]. So
> far, we have had the passive and, at points, active support of Linden Lab in
> developing OpenSim. But, as we all know, Linden Lab is a relatively
> unpredictable company; at any point, it could be acquired by another company
> who is less enthusiastic about a free BSD open source server side to their
> client. In the absolute worst case scenario, that other company could cause
> us a lot of grief if OpenSim includes code directly derived from GPL'ed
> viewer code. (I don't want to start a rhetorical discussion about this;
> that's just the worst case scenario, period.)
>
> Hence, the "no risks" rule. We do not take patches from anyone who is
> actively involved in the development of viewers from the LL viewer family.
>
> If, however, you are talking about your own modules that aren't part of the
> official OpenSim distribution, then OpenSim has no say about it -- do
> whatever you want. No one here is in a position to give legal advice.
>
>
> On 6/30/2010 4:18 AM, Neil Canham wrote:
>
> Would anyone be able to tell me about the warning for any one person not to
> work on both the OpenSim source and a viewer such as Hippo?  I understand
> that there are licensing differences (BSD vs GPL respectively) and that
> direct inclusion of GPL code in a BSD project breaks the GPL license.
>  Surely you could guard against such direct inclusion?  Does this extend to
> region modules and mini-region modules?  I'm in the position of wanting to
> make changes to the viewer and also to write MRMs or other modules.
>
> --
> Neil Canham
> --
>
>
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-- 
Neil Canham
-- 
Director
Flying Island Limited
m: +44 (0) 7974 095903
e: neil.canham at flyingisland.co.uk

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