At 12:28 PM 2/8/2002, John Alvord wrote:
Seems to me that contributers should have most of the say....
I'm not only a user but a potential contributor, as I frequently fix bugs in the open source code I use and maintain for others. I also recommend products to end users and install them on end users' systems. I will not be able to contribute to, fix bugs in, or recommend WINE if it is under an FSF license. The impact of a license change will reach far beyond the contributors.
I have been very thankful for WINE, because it has in some cases allowed me to escape the grip of the megalomaniacal Microsoft. But if WINE is (L)GPLed, all users, contributors, and software vendors who might like to promote it will be in the grip of the equally megalomaniacal FSF. A fork is the only thing that can prevent this, and again, I would strongly encourage one if it appears that the FSF is about to commandeer the project by persuading a subset of the contributors to impose its license upon everyone else.
Another thing that worries greatly is Jeremy's message stating that he has been consulting with Eben Moglen, of the FSF, about licensing. Asking the FSF's advice about licensing is akin to asking the IRS to prepare one's taxes: It will act in its own interest, not yours. The FSF's sole goal is to destroy commercial software developers, and so it will naturally do anything it can to accomplish this aim, even if the results are also devastating to the WINE project. It does not appear that CodeWeavers has consulted with anyone who does consulting and writes code under truly free license. I've already recommended, in a previous message, that they consult Perry Metzger of Wasabi Systems, who can demonstrate to them that a truly free license is greatly beneficial. (The fact that NetBSD is truly free is, in fact, one of Wasabi's strongest selling points for its software and services.)
It is also of great concern that CodeWeavers has stated that it will begin to add code to the source tree under LGPL. By thus "contaminating" the tree, it will force its decision upon the other developers. The company's code should not be committed if it does not contribute it under the MIT/WINE license.
--Brett Glass