source/libs/zziplib/zziplib-0.13.62/docs/copying.htm

   1 <section> <date> 2004 </date>
   2 <h2> COPYING - license information </h2> the public license terms
   3
   4 <P>
   5   The zziplib is a small library that allows for some parts of
   6   obfuscation. This is very handy in commercial projects which tend
   7   to incorporate a copy into their source tree. And with
   8   <a href="zzip-xor.htm">obfuscation</a> it is often advisable
   9   to staticlink the zziplib part and `strip` the symbols from
  10   the resulting binary - in order to obfuscate the usage of a
  11   standard library for semi-`encryption` of data files.
  12 </P>
  13
  14 <P>
  15   In the past I have been modifying the original LGPL license
  16   with a text that allows staticlinking thereby taking over a
  17   few paragraphs from the MPL as restrictions to do so, just to
  18   defend against improper usage. However I kept being asked
  19   legalese questions since most people do not want to interpret
  20   added text either and on their own without a lawyer. However
  21   that accounts to me as well.
  22 </P>
  23 <P>
  24   The public license(s) are simply there to protect me and
  25   my work, none of this is fixed and it is neither the only
  26   possible way to get hold of a proper license. You can
  27   always contact me to negotiate a special one if you do
  28   need so. In most cases I will just say okay and you get
  29   it for free, perhaps after some presentations I will
  30   ask for som tax-reductable compensation sent to
  31   a wellfare organisation (never me!).
  32 </P>
  33 <P>
  34   A last hint from a friend did make me think as well, as
  35   that the whole point of using standard public licenses
  36   is to protect against the need to use your own lawyers
  37   in the case that someone breaks the license rules. If
  38   one uses a standard license then it is in the interest
  39   of that big organization XY that the license will be
  40   enforced and that it will be shown valid in all courts.
  41   At the time of writing, no opensource license has
  42   ever been discussed to an end in a court trial.
  43 </P>
  44 <P>
  45   That's why at last, I decided to change the COPYING
  46   details once again - and start shipping under a dual
  47   MPL / LGPL license where each of them is separate
  48   and restrictions apply alternatively. Remember that
  49   each license is non-exclusive anyway, and I can give
  50   out as many licenses as I want, here we have one as
  51   MPL, then we have one as LGPL, and perhaps you ask me
  52   for a third text to send you over. The public ones
  53   are just there for you as a free choice which you can
  54   pick without negotiations or a fee.
  55 </P>
  56 <P>
  57   And yes, you will be on established legal grounds as
  58   long as you restrict your usage of the library to the
  59   details contained in either COPYING text. And better
  60   yet, the legal possibilities have been discussed
  61   a few hundred times before. You will surely find
  62   good answers on the internet as well to guide you
  63   to decisions in your company whether zziplib may
  64   be adopted for a specific task.
  65 </P>
  66 <P>
  67   The sources themselves are sent out under a dual license,
  68   with both MPL and LGPL license options, and as long as
  69   the MPL part is  not removed then the recpient of some
  70   modified sources will be entitled to the same choice
  71   among the public licenses of LGPL / MPL. Note that some
  72   example sources are given away under the ZLIB license
  73   which is nothing more than asking for nice behavior
  74   which should have been the case even without such a text.
  75   <small><small>(However, it is just a fact that some people
  76   happen to behave anti-social especially under pressure of
  77   capitalist needs, said to lower the risks for commercial
  78   success/failure of a company. You have to enforce good
  79   behavior or it will be "forgotten". With a license it is
  80   not just an error, it is a risk in itself to forget about it)
  81   </small></small>
  82 </P>
  83 <P>
  84   As for staticlinking, let us explore that a bit - there has
  85   been a debate that the LGPL warrants in fact the freedom of
  86   the final recipient as you must give him the original or
  87   modified sources of zziplib, to allow them to modify that
  88   part again, and then (re-)link to your own parts. Your own
  89   parts may come in the form of precompiled objects without
  90   sources (as opposed to the GPL restrictions). In here, it
  91   is simply easier to use a dynamic linker that does the
  92   re-linking job at startup-time of the whole project instead
  93   to provide a makefile and linkage descriptions to let the
  94   user do the staticlink it into a combined executable object.
  95   The latter however is often needed for embedded environments
  96   and it is quite of the original motivation to ask for a
  97   staticlink option where in fact the LGPL does allow it anyway
  98   as long as you ship all parts separatly as well.
  99 </P>
 100
 101 <P>
 102   The MPL defines the area of a combined work a bit differently,
 103   in a way it derives some ideas from BSD'ish licenses. This
 104   part does more care to protect the `Intellectual Properties`
 105   of the original developers. It does ask to prominently show
 106   off that you have gone to link with the work of someone else
 107   in your project. Take special note of <em>"3.5 Required Notices"</em>,
 108   <em>"3.6 Distribution of Executable Versions"</em> and
 109   <em>"3.7 Larger Works"</em> here. Or read a lawyer text on
 110   the legal result of the whole license.
 111 </P>
 112
 113 </section>