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0 pointsfranciscop9y ago0 comments

I am one of those programmers which even built a tool to avoid having a GPL dependency down the line[1] and I can assure you that I like proprietary software less than GPL. If three levels down the dependency chain a developer was sloppy enough to incorrectly use a GPL dependency and license their project as MIT, then the whole project would automatically become GPL. That is what @git-pull meant by taint (though I do not have a negative opinion about it so I avoid pejorative terms such as taint or virus).

The reason is simple and I see it akin my opinion on religion: it's okay to have your own believes, but don't force them on others. While I believe that we should all be doing Open Source for the benefit of humanity, I also understand that there are many companies who do proprietary software for different reasons. And not everyone can afford to do work exclusively on open source.

[1] https://github.com/franciscop/legally

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5 comments · 2 top-level

_jal9y ago· 2 in thread

It sounds to me like you're doing it right; I don't think we disagree. Don't know why you're trying to explain 'taint' to me - the 'viral' nature is of course the primary moving part in the GPL.

I also fully understand that not everyone/thing can be GPL. I'm not religious about it. I've contributed to open source under several licenses, and to proprietary applications.

But the fact remains, if you don't like the posted rules, don't play in the sandbox, just like any other license, even if you really like the toys.

And really, asking people to comply with a license is nothing like attempting to force beliefs on people. It is asking them to follow a legal agreement. Or do you think I am endorsing Larry Ellison's political views because I'm covered by a licensing agreement with his firm?

franciscopOP9y ago

I see it akin to "if you want to be in this country you have to follow our religion". Some people will choose other countries, some people will convert to your religion, and some people will move and keep their religion in an illegal way.

With GPL it is similar in the way that it doesn't matter the license that you want to use but you have to use GPL. You can sometimes just not use GPL, but other times your only real options are to be forced to change your project license or to break the rules (neither of which is good IMO). Of course you have to follow the rules for any license, but other licenses are more permisive in the way that you can use the software with whatever license you want.

_jal9y ago

> I see it akin to "if you want to be in this country you have to follow our religion".

But that is every license, aside from a few experimental/performance art ones. If you want to use others' code, you have to go through the motions of code's license's religion.

I find it noteworthy that people only use the word 'religious' about the GPL. Not Microsoft's terms, which are massively more restrictive and not the weird ones that actually do get slightly religious (Artistic License).

Something about heathens and heretics, I guess.

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jessaustin9y ago· 1 in thread

How many times has that thrice-removed GPL dependency affected one of your projects? In those cases, did you give up? Did you remove the dependency? If so, how long did that take?

franciscopOP9y ago

Luckily no one has sued me (and I hope no one is planing to) so it hasn't really affected me AFAIK, but I try to follow the law/licenses. Also when I do some proprietary work for some company and I am the one picking up the dependencies I double-check this.

In JS-world most libraries are MIT-licensed, so there was only a couple of times where I had to remove minor dependencies which didn't really affect me.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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5 comments · 2 top-level

_jal9y ago· 2 in thread

It sounds to me like you're doing it right; I don't think we disagree. Don't know why you're trying to explain 'taint' to me - the 'viral' nature is of course the primary moving part in the GPL.

I also fully understand that not everyone/thing can be GPL. I'm not religious about it. I've contributed to open source under several licenses, and to proprietary applications.

But the fact remains, if you don't like the posted rules, don't play in the sandbox, just like any other license, even if you really like the toys.

franciscopOP9y ago

_jal9y ago

> I see it akin to "if you want to be in this country you have to follow our religion".

But that is every license, aside from a few experimental/performance art ones. If you want to use others' code, you have to go through the motions of code's license's religion.

Something about heathens and heretics, I guess.

1 more reply

jessaustin9y ago· 1 in thread

How many times has that thrice-removed GPL dependency affected one of your projects? In those cases, did you give up? Did you remove the dependency? If so, how long did that take?

franciscopOP9y ago

In JS-world most libraries are MIT-licensed, so there was only a couple of times where I had to remove minor dependencies which didn't really affect me.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse