[Zope-DB] Pitfall: mxODBCZopeDA and test runner in 2.9+
Matthew T. Kromer
matt at bane.mi.org
Fri Oct 13 06:45:03 EDT 2006
On Oct 13, 2006, at 5:14 AM, Chris Withers wrote:
>
>
> I have to echo Jens' sentiments though: why not just ship .py files
> and be done with it?
>
If I had to make a wild-ass guess, its because there's an indication
that the mxodbc code would be misappropriated and proliferated
outside of the control of the authors, a circumstance which they
desire to avoid.
The alternative of shipping .pyc files (and still not letting source
out the door) is to spend lots of time coming up with ways to pack
source into .pyd files, which would be very clumsy. None of it
actually prevents someone who knows the python internals from yanking
source (or reconstructed source) back out, but it goes a long way to
prevent those folks from saying "oh, well, all software *should* be
free -- so I'll just delete this little licensing routine right
here.... *snip* ta-da, I'm pleased to announce free-mxodbc to the world"
Actually I don't think anyone would be dumb enough to redistribute
misappropriated code, but there ARE a lot of individuals out there
whose sense of entitlement exceeds their common sense. I'm sure e-
genix would be happy to release the source for a big enough lump sum
to pay off their expected future licensing revenue, but in the
interim their business model requires people to pay as they go. And
since their charges are about the equivalent of a nice night out at
an upscale restaurant (or a few passes through McDonalds with a
minivan full of kids) I can't see anyone investing the time to write
a replacement.
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