[Zope-dev] Re: ZPL and GPL

[Fred Wilson Horch]

Barry A. Warsaw writes:

> I think I'm accurately channeling Guido when I say that Python will
> never be GPL'd.  AFAIK, there is no GPL code even in the standard
> Python distribution.  Both of those states of affair are by conscious
> decision: regardless of what you think of the GPL (and I personally
> happen to believe it can be a good license for /some/ software, but
> not all) GPL'ing Python would be a very bad thing.  Guido has always
> intended for people to do whatever they want with Python, including
> using it in everything from closed source, proprietary, big-$$$
> software to completely free software.  That's been a key to Python's
> success, IMO.

I respectfully disagree about the last point.

But it would be nice to hear what Guido thinks, and what Digital
Creation thinks.

Knowing that the copyright holders have made a conscious decision not to
allow developers to obtain Python and Zope under the terms of the GPL in
the belief that this allows people to do "whatever they want" with it
does help us evaluate the long-term prospects for these systems in the
marketplace.

I would love to take this discussion to a different forum.  Can someone
post the name of the zope licensing list so I don't waste non-lawyers'
time with an analysis of the correlation between licensing schemes and
success of various open source projects (a subject we intellectual
property attorneys find extremely fascinating!)?

Some compelling case studies are Linux, gcc, apache, perl and ruby (see,
in particular, Ruby's choice of licensing provision at
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/LICENSE.txt -- you can get ruby either under
the GPL or under a home-grown Ruby license -- your choice).

Python is a great language, but it's not the only game in town!

It's very hard for me to see how offering developers the choice to
obtain Python both under the GPL and under a non-free software license
that permits proprietary extensions would harm Python's success.  (But
I'm just an attorney. ;-)

I hope this discussion is interesting and useful.  To people who have
better things to think about: I apologize for taken up time with this,
but I hope one day a discussion of the licensing uncertainties
surrounding Python and Zope will no longer be necessary.

Best regards,
Fred
-- 
Fred Wilson Horch			mailto:fhorch@ecoaccess.org
Executive Director, EcoAccess		http://ecoaccess.org/
P.O. Box 2823, Durham, NC 27715-2823	phone: 919.419-8567