[Pmwiki-users] [ANN] A new release of FormTemplateSystem is available

Carlo Strozzi carlos
Mon Dec 8 04:47:08 CST 2003


On Sun, Dec 07, 2003 at 09:46:53PM -0600, John Feezell wrote:
> Carlo, thanks for the note.
> 
> For the present I want to keep a tight control over code development.  
> After I am sure that the code is very stable and does what I desire for
> the FTS, I'll consider other copyright options.

John,
ease of improvement is exactly the purpose of free licenses such as
the GPL or the many BSD-like ones. If Patrick had waited for PmWiki
to become "stable" before allowing others to freely change and improve
it we would not have any PmWiki now, and no community of indipendent
developers and contributors could have formed around it. Remember:
"release early, release often" is a key tenet in open-source software
development. You should not be worried by releasing buggy code. Nobody
expects or can require your software to be bug-free, and if bugs are
found someone else will likely fix them for you, if he is allowed to do so.

> I'm curious, were you asking in general or did you have something in
> particular in mind?

I just wanted to give FTS a try, but given the current licensing terms
I'm legally not allowed to modify it to suit my needs, nor to fix any
bugs that I will certainly find. I know you are not going to sue me for
that :-), but nevertheless when you write "as is without modification"
you are making a legally binding statement regarding FTS.

> If you are using the code, I'd appreciate a URL so I could see it in 
> action.
> I know how I intend to use the code and would like to see how others use 
> it.

As I said I just wanted to have a go at it. I did it and I got errors.
I could have tried and fix the code myself and send the changes back to
you, but I'm not allowed. I know you would probably be willing to grant
me the permission, but others will be in the same situation and the fact
that everyone needs to ask you for an individual permission is a steep
barrier to the adoption of FTS. Furthermore, the contributed code would
then become part of FTS and udergo the same licensing terms, which is
rather unfair to contributors (they would not be subsequently allowed to
further change their own code).

The best way to see your FTS used in new and unplanned ways is to
release it under the GPL. A BSD variant is also ok, but the drawback is
that it does not prevent others to make a derivative proprietary product
out of your code, without the need to contribute the changes back to the
community.

In summary, the current FTS license makes it a proprietary product,
albeit an open-source one.

> Again, thanks for your interest.

My pleasure,
Carlo
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