Talk:Comparison of software licences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article was nominated for deletion on 19/7/2006. The result of the discussion was keep.

[edit] Licence compatibility

The problem with this page, although well-intentioned, is that a global opinion about license compatibility is just that: global, and an opinion. Whether one license is compatible with another really isn't your, mine, or his decision to make. It is a decision that only a licensor can make. I may think that the BSD license is compatible with the GPL. If I do, then it doesn't matter if somebody else says it isn't, because I'm not going to initiate a lawsuit. Whatever the licensor says, goes, even if everybody else disagrees with him. RussNelson 01:12, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

That's a very interesting point of view

But i prefer to focus on the legal aspect only,that is to say if there are compatible or not

A text explaning your point of view can be added

We can also talk about aditional permissions such as in the gpl where someone can give aditional permission on his code

This could be usefull in order to cope with incompatibilities

00 tux 22:20, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, 00tux, but you cannot wiggle out of this philosophical problem simply by claiming that you are focussing on the legal aspect only. It's not enough to say whether a license is compatible or not. You have to say who says it, and who will listen to them. So, when the FSF says that the Apache 2.1 is not GPL compatible, and yet the ASF says that it is, who is right? You can't say who is right -- not if you want a NPOV. You have to say who says it, and who will listen to them. RussNelson 02:47, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

But there are global opinions pertaining to some of the licenses. If there's any debate as to whether certain licenses are compatible, their cell can just say 'contested', right? --Snarius 05:01, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copy-editing

I'm not really sure what to do with the gigantic table; it's not readable as it is, and there appears to be only one entry filled in... Cheyinka 10:16, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

This article is not worth putting any effort into it because of the philosophical problems I explained above. This article cannot be repaired because everyone who reads it has a POV that is important, and yet which may differ with the contents of the article. An NPOV article is simply not possible. Rather than try to achieve the impossible, better to not try. RussNelson 14:45, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

I've reduced its size somewhat. It might be easier to edit now. --Snarius 05:18, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] License Features

I added two columns on "license features" which treads dangerous close to NPOV. (Specifically, the default "yes/no" templates seem to suggest "yes" is good and "no" is bad, implying a value judgement.) In this case, I made "yes" be the least restrictive option, which is arguably a value judgement. Oh well. There's a reference to the chart this is based off (no original research) but I haven't really figured out a good way to link it. So right now it's a footnoot in the standard <ref> style. I don't really like that, but - oh well.

The table columns are a little wider than I'd like, since I tried to make the column titles as descriptive as possible. It may be better to choose simple titles for them and then add footnotes describing what is intended. — Xenoveritas 22:09, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Obviously I meant "non-NPOV" above - blah. I should have noticed that earlier. — Xenoveritas 02:47, 27 October 2006 (UTC)