gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) (05/21/86)
I have been writing a public domain 'tar' to contribute to the GNU
project. Before I got too far along, I made sure that Richard would
agree to redistribute it as real live Public Domain code, without his
funny restrictions. If you are writing code and truly wish it to be
public domain (anyone can do ANYTHING with it, no restrictions, no
copyrights, no caveats, if they make a million with it, you have no
recourse), then make sure to get this kind of agreement from the GNU
project. It appears that RMS would rather snarf up your copyright
(with your permission) and restrict the ways your code can be used.
This is fine if that's what you, the author, want -- but let him know
if not.
--
John Gilmore {sun,ptsfa,lll-crg,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu jgilmore@lll-crg.arpasrt@ucla-cs.UUCP (05/23/86)
In article <811@hoptoad.uucp> gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes: >I have been writing a public domain 'tar' to contribute to the GNU >project. Before I got too far along, I made sure that Richard would >agree to redistribute it as real live Public Domain code, without his >funny restrictions. If you are writing code and truly wish it to be >public domain (anyone can do ANYTHING with it, no restrictions, no >copyrights, no caveats, if they make a million with it, you have no >recourse)... Isn't this kind of silly? If you are going to throw your code into the Public Domain, then there isn't anyway you can stop RMS from distributing it with his copyright notice on it, right? Since you've pointedly made no attempt to protect your code, he can just grab it and do what he wants to it - including slapping a GNU redistribution agreement on it. Self-defeating. -- Scott Turner The Chairman of the Board
gnu@hoptoad.UUCP (05/26/86)
In article <14097@ucla-cs.ARPA>, srt@ucla-cs.ARPA (Scott Turner) writes: > In article <811@hoptoad.uucp> gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes: > > ...I made sure that Richard would > >agree to redistribute it as real live Public Domain code, without his > >funny restrictions. > Isn't this kind of silly? If you are going to throw your code into the > Public Domain, then there isn't anyway you can stop RMS from distributing > it with his copyright notice on it, right? This is true, but if I ask RMS if he will distribute it as PD and he says yes, I presume that he will keep his word. If I make no agreement with him then I have shown no interest in what he does with my code. In either case he COULD claim copyright and I have no legal recourse. That doesn't mean I shouldn't ask for what I want. -- John Gilmore {sun,ptsfa,lll-crg,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu jgilmore@lll-crg.arpa