Re: [Caml-list] ocaml compiler license

[Roberto Di Cosmo <roberto@dicosmo.org>]

Just one line on all this: as correctly hinted otherwise, the copyright
can only be enforced by the owner of the work (that is Inria in this case);
so, if a doubt arises about the meaning of some terms of the licence arises,
you should not look at what the FSF or the OSI or some other lawyers say,
but ask the owner of the work for clarifications.

Cheers

--
Roberto


On Fri, Mar 06, 2015 at 08:45:28AM +0000, David Allsopp wrote:
> Fabrice Le Fessant wrote:
> > From the QPL 1.0 license in OCaml sources:
> > 
> > "... distribute your modifications, in a form that is separate from the
> > Software, such as patches."
> > 
> > In GIT, the software itself is a set of patches, so it's not so clear for
> > me that if the modifications are another set of patches, there are in a
> > "separate form".
> 
> This is why I said that it should be done in a separate branch. You're happy with the idea that the file system (or the URL) provides separation (i.e. one URL for the ocaml tarball, one URL for the patch file) - I'd make the legal argument that git is simply a file system (when you remove the porcelain, the plumbing *is* simply a file system, after all!) and a git branch name provides the same separation as the two separate files.
> 
> If one is going to argue that git branches do not provide separation, then do we start talking in terms of needing the main sources and the patch on separate harddisks; separate servers; separate internets? :o) Indeed, with git clone {your-ocaml-repository} -b master --single-branch you can clone the repository *without* downloading your patch branch at all (i.e. the unmodified OCaml sources) so I would assert that git definitely satisfies the "separate form" requirement.
> 
> However, the QPL does not rigidly define "separate" and uses the woolly term "such as" for its example, so that argument could only be resolved by being tested.
> 
> > Anyway, many people are distributing modified OCaml versions under GIT,
> > and INRIA has never complained about it, to the best of my knowledge.
> 
> Which is a much stronger argument, given that pull requests are allowed for the OCaml compiler, from public repos :o)
> 
> 
> David 
> 
> > --Fabrice
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 12:07 AM, David Allsopp <dra-news@metastack.com>
> > wrote:
> > > Alexey Egorov wrote:
> > >> Hi Adrien,
> > >>
> > >> thanks for your reply.
> > >>
> > >> But wouldn't publicly avalable github repo with modified sources
> > >> violate license (just because non-patch/diff version is publicly
> > >> available)?
> > >
> > > IANAL, but if you put all your changes in a separate branch on your own
> > git repo (forked from the official Git mirror) then you are literally
> > storing a set of patches - the ability to download the entire distribution
> > as one whole (or even as a .tar.gz file, say on GitHub) is just a
> > convenience provided by the software, it's not what you're actually
> > providing.
> > >
> > >
> > > David
> > >
> > > --
> > > Caml-list mailing list.  Subscription management and archives:
> > > https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list
> > > Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners
> > > Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > Fabrice LE FESSANT
> > Chercheur en Informatique
> > INRIA Paris Rocquencourt -- OCamlPro
> > Programming Languages and Distributed Systems
> 
> -- 
> Caml-list mailing list.  Subscription management and archives:
> https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list
> Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners
> Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs

-- 
Roberto Di Cosmo
 
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