Re: [cdin] Re: Responding to your CDDB Inquiries (fwd)

Greg Stein (gstein nospam at lyra.org)
Tue, 09 Mar 1999 14:25:16 -0800

Mike Oliphant wrote:
>
> On Tue, 9 Mar 1999, Greg Stein wrote:
>
> > > This is precisely the kind of situation the LGPL is designed for. We can
> > > provide a .so and a .dll, both under the LGPL. Remember that this just
> > > applies to the interface code that we provide out of the goodness of our
> > > hearts. People who want a stand-alone, proprietary binary are welcome to
> > > implement the interface themselves.
> >
> > I *really* don't think the LGPL will work for us.
> >
> > I investigated it quite a bit for my mod_dav module. It would require
> > that people ship their code as open source or in a linkable form. I
> > seriously doubt people want to bother with shipping a linkable form so
> > that people can update the LGPL'd library and relink(!).
>
> We're talking dynamic libraries (.so and .dll) here -- no need for
> relinking on the user's part. Also, we're talking about interface *code*
> not interface *protocol*. If people aren't happy with requiring a .so or a
> .dll, they are welocome to write their own parser for the protocol.

Okay... I read your reply to my other note re: BSD vs LGPL. I agree...
we don't want to get into a license discussion. I believe I overstated
my intention.

The *developer* gets to choose their license. That is just self-evident,
I'd say :-) However, I think it is fair to say that the community would
like to see a BSD library.

(note: as has been mentioned, you can't always dynamically link,
therefore making the LGPL an undue hassle)

>...
> > > Trademarks are based on first commercial use.
>
> This is the problem. We want to exclude someone from having any commercial
> use of a term we invent to apply to a free format.

This group's use of CDIN has already established what would be called
"first commercial use". For all intents and purposes, it cannot be
commandeered by a commercial interest. I can also guarantee that I won't
be selling off the domain. That should be more than enough for any court
to rule against a company that tries to take it over.

(oh, may as well, since you caught me when I didn't: usual disclaimers
apply :-)

Cheers,
-g

--
Greg Stein, http://www.lyra.org/