[Opensim-dev] GPL / BSD licensing dangers

[Diva Canto]

I don't know where in my message you read that. The "no risks" rule 
couldn't be clearer.

The issue is one of being exposed to the concrete algorithms of the 
viewer and then writing server-side code specifically for them. It's not 
so much intellectual property -- as far as I know, nothing in the viewer 
is patented. But even if something is patented, that would not be all we 
need to worry about. The issue is learning from the viewer code. 
Learning from code is a grey area of open source licensing. In radical 
interpretations, learning from the code and then writing code for what 
you've learned makes that new code a "derived work".

So in that worst case scenario, the grief would be that OpenSim would be 
forced to change into a GPL license. We don't want that.

On 6/30/2010 6:25 AM, Dickson, Mike (ISS Software) wrote:
>
> Ok, this is a slightly different position than I've heard before...
>
> The issue of simple code inclusion is well defined IMO, OpenSIM core 
> can't include GPL'd code into the BSD licensed core without running 
> afoul of the GPL.  That's a simple license compatibility issue.  But 
> in the past what I've heard is that you don't want contributions from 
> people who have read or worked on viewer code because of concerns of 
> copying IP (that is... knowing something about the client 
> implementation might taint the server code because I'd use that info 
> when implementing a server change).    Is that not the case?  Diva, 
> your message as worded sounds to me like you would accept 
> contributions so long as there were no GPL licensed code in the 
> submission. I.E. Your issue is no direct code copying, not 
> intellectual property related.
>
> Modules external to core of course don't carry any prohibition.  In 
> doing that I'm simply using API's the project has provided and how I 
> conform to licenses involved is my business.
>
> Mike
>
> *From:* opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de 
> [mailto:opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de] *On Behalf Of *Diva Canto
> *Sent:* Wednesday, June 30, 2010 8:03 AM
> *To:* opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
> *Subject:* Re: [Opensim-dev] GPL / BSD licensing dangers
>
> 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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