One factor that is often brought to my attention is the viral nature of the GPL, where including some GPL code in your application is not allowed unless the entire application is also released as GPL. Other versions of the GPL are less demanding, i.e., LGPL, where only that portion of the code is required to be distributed as LGPL licensed. The developers of OpenSimulator have struggled to develop a codebase that can be licensed under BSD terms, and including GPL'd source in OpenSimulator would deny us that right. It could be argued that studying GPL code and then implementing a similar design without proper attribution is a form of plagiarism, and that including proper attribution would require GPL licensing. As such, avoiding contact with proprietary or GPL code provides assurance that we can publish OpenSimulator under a BSD style license. I'm told that code published under a BSD style of license can be included in a GPL work without changing the intentions of the copyright holders of the GPL code.<div>
<br><div>Personally I have a lot of respect for the GPL and those who choose to develop software under those terms, and I also admire and respect their social goals. I am an avid user of GPL software, and as such I often reserve my right to only download compiled code and not the source code unless absolutely necessary. I do this to maintain a sense of responsibility for those who may employ me to develop proprietary software. </div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 10:11 PM, John Sheridan <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:john@pseudospace.net">john@pseudospace.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Forgive me for going off topic here, but is there some technical or<br>
legal reason why those who work on OpenSim can't look at the viewer's<br>
code? It would only seem logical that since the viewer's source is open<br>
that you would have the ability to go in and poke around.<br>
<br>
Sorry, but I'm pretty much new to how open source development projects<br>
work. I've been a solitary developer for some time now, hence I've been<br>
watching how you guys operate in order to get a feel for the intricacies<br>
of what an open sourced project would entail.<br>
<br>
Thanks, ;)<br>
<br>
- John Sheridan<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
James Stallings II wrote:<br>
> Sounds Great Charles. As soon as they have something I can build on<br>
> linux I'm game to test it. However, having tried to build the viewer<br>
> component on linux, they've quite a distance to go yet.<br>
><br>
> Someone offered me a link to some material describing an attempt to<br>
> build the viewer, and I visited that link. It contains a lot of<br>
> patch-related and viewer code related stuff - consequently, I was not<br>
> comfortable reading it.<br>
><br>
> It did get me to thinking though; these guys are mighty familiar with<br>
> the viewer internals - doesnt that preclude them even contributing<br>
> code to opensim at all?<br>
><br>
> Cheers<br>
> James<br>
><br>
><br>
> On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 2:46 PM, Charles Krinke <<a href="mailto:cfk@pacbell.net">cfk@pacbell.net</a><br>
</div><div class="Ih2E3d">> <mailto:<a href="mailto:cfk@pacbell.net">cfk@pacbell.net</a>>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> Hang on, hang on. Lets get back to where we can move forward step<br>
> by step and have a little fun in the process.<br>
><br>
> 1. There is a Rex Viewer. Lets get some momentum on the OpenSim<br>
> side with one or more folks testing it on one or more OpenSim<br>
> grids and report on the #opensim IRC channel and this e-mail what<br>
> works and what doesnt work in such a way that the Rex folks can<br>
> move forward in a logical manner.<br>
><br>
> 2. There is a Rex server. Some of it may be appropriate to bring<br>
> into OpenSim as modules or patches. Lets discuss as "peers" the<br>
> technical issues, merits and implementations that the Rex server<br>
> brings to OpenSim.<br>
><br>
> 3. Lets get a similar testing and integration effort underway on<br>
> one or more grids in order to allow those parts of the Rex work<br>
> which are appropriate for OpenSim to get closer to svn.<br>
><br>
> I understand the passions involved. We all have passions, and I am<br>
> no exception. But, working out the technical details and letting<br>
> go of past issues is the best way for us to move forward.<br>
><br>
> Charles<br>
><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
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><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> ===================================<br>
> The wind<br>
> scours the earth for prayers<br>
> The night obscures them<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://osgrid.org" target="_blank">http://osgrid.org</a><br>
> <a href="http://del.icio.us/SPQR" target="_blank">http://del.icio.us/SPQR</a><br>
> <a href="http://twitter.com/jstallings2" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/jstallings2</a><br>
> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/770/a49" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/770/a49</a><br>
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