[Toolserver-l] Changes to expired accounts web hosting

[Aryeh Gregor]

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 9:53 PM, Martin Peeks <martinp23 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> The default copyright stance, unless a licence specifies otherwise, is
> "All Rights Reserved". I don't think we have the right to enforce a
> licence that is all about freedom unless a user opts-in.

We have the right to require anything we like of people who use our
hardware.  WMDE is under no obligation, moral or otherwise IMO, to
permit people to use their resources in ways they don't think are best
for the toolserver.

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 10:39 AM, James Forrester <james at jdforrester.org> wrote:
> Actually, "we" have had a very long-term rule that we don't use
> non-OSS software as a part of the Wikimedia "stack".

This rule is not applicable to the toolserver, which indeed runs
mostly on proprietary software.  I personally wish it were applicable,
but it's not and never has been.

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 9:49 AM, DaB. <WP at daniel.baur4.info> wrote:
> If somebody is interested, the DRAFT can be found under [1]. I updated it
> today and added some stuff from the discussion here. I'm of corse interested
> in response (and fixing of my bad english), but I can't guarantee that it will
> ever accept by the WMDE.
> . . .
> [1] https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Toollizenz/draft/en

"The source code of every tool is licensed under a free (like BSD) or
GPL-compatible[1] license by default"

I don't think this is clear, or legally enforceable.  I'm pretty sure
you have to give a specific license, e.g., "GPLv3 or later", or "MIT
license".  You can't agree to license your code under an unspecified
free license.

"Source code is exempted from this if it is explicitly licensed. A
tool's license can be explicitly licensed in a comment at the top of
its source code, or visibly in its user interface."

Maybe you should also allow users to create ~/LICENSE or something
that gives a default license for all their tools.

Also, something I'm not clear on:

"To keep with the successful spirit of free licensing for all
Wikimedia projects, the tools on the Toolserver are also freely
licensed. . . . Source code is exempted from this if it is explicitly
licensed."

The second sentence suggests that the code can be explicitly licensed
as "Proprietary, all rights reserved", while the first sentence
suggests the opposite.