3 ms·

> In contracts most terms are not defined. The GPL is one that I know that spells it out [1]: > This License applies to any program or other work which contai

by nadams 11y ago

> In contracts most terms are not defined. The GPL is one that I know that spells it out [1]: > This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you". > This allows the judge to interpret them according to their common meaning Uhhh....you mean the same legal system that claimed that Ron Rivest et al. were not the original inventors of the RSA algorithm? [2] I don't know who is counseling you on legal matters but I strongly believe you should define anything that can be ambiguous. [3] > DO define all technical terms. [3] > DON'T assume the other party defines terms the way you do. If there is any doubt, include a definition in the contract. [3] > DON'T accept the other party's oral explanation of a confusing term. Include everything in writing. [3] > I don't think most people will consider an entire program a patch. Why not? It can easily be done [4]. Example: here is a patch file to upgrade from CE to EE. [1] http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html#SEC1 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html#SEC... [2] https://gigaom.com/2013/11/26/troll-wins-newegg-encryption-patent-case-threatening-web-firms-that-protect-customers/ https://gigaom.com/2013/11/26/troll-wins-newegg-encryption-p... [3] http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/business-contracts-forms/do-s-and-don-ts-contracts-terms.html http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/business-contracts-forms/do... [4] http://stackoverflow.com/a/9982282/195722 http://stackoverflow.com/a/9982282/195722

sytse 11y ago
You have good points, I'll have a lawyer look at this again. I do wonder how would you define the patch file? How would you prevent people splitting up the changeset into multiple patch files? I hope the intent of our license is clear. Most people and organizations want to do the right thing.
- nadams 11y ago
  Just as an aside - we seem to be crossing paths a lot on here... I think you should just hire me as your PR and/or developer guy ;). It's always good to have a guy with a different perspective who thinks and plays outside the box. I mean inside the box is so boring.... > I do wonder how would you define the patch file? Something like.... > A patch file contains the modified file name, author of the change, date, hash with snippets of content recording the changes. A patch file cannot contain enough information to reconstruct the software in whole or modify the CE to include copyrighted features in the EE edition. The author must not knowingly introduce backdoors, exploits, or other code that introduces malicious intent. If the author is identified their gitlab EE license will be revoked irrevocably and permanently and requested to halt any use of gitlab EE. (However - a patch may still introduce features from the EE edition that were written with original code) > A patch may be released under whatever license or agreements the author wants without the requirement for permission from Gitlab if it satisfies the previous conditions. It might be good to add a clause: > By applying a third party patch you agree to not hold Gitlab liable for any damages or misconfigurations that might happen by applying the patch. You acknowledge by applying a third party patch that it may fix your problem, introduce a new problem, or open a tear in the space-time continuum. I'm sure you get the idea. I'm tired and I just watched an episode of Doctor Who - so I had to include something related to time :).
  - sytse 11y ago
    Thanks! We're hiring https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ Our lawyer will also study this comment. I'm sure he'll discourage us from offering guaranties against tears in the space-time continuum. Have a good night.
    - sytse 11y ago
      Our lawyer reviewed it and made the following changes, https://dev.gitlab.org/gitlab/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/479/diffs https://dev.gitlab.org/gitlab/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/479/d... Thank again!

by nadams 11y ago

sytse 11y ago

You have good points, I'll have a lawyer look at this again. I do wonder how would you define the patch file? How would you prevent people splitting up the changeset into multiple patch files? I hope the intent of our license is clear. Most people and organizations want to do the right thing.

nadams 11y ago
Just as an aside - we seem to be crossing paths a lot on here... I think you should just hire me as your PR and/or developer guy ;). It's always good to have a guy with a different perspective who thinks and plays outside the box. I mean inside the box is so boring.... > I do wonder how would you define the patch file? Something like.... > A patch file contains the modified file name, author of the change, date, hash with snippets of content recording the changes. A patch file cannot contain enough information to reconstruct the software in whole or modify the CE to include copyrighted features in the EE edition. The author must not knowingly introduce backdoors, exploits, or other code that introduces malicious intent. If the author is identified their gitlab EE license will be revoked irrevocably and permanently and requested to halt any use of gitlab EE. (However - a patch may still introduce features from the EE edition that were written with original code) > A patch may be released under whatever license or agreements the author wants without the requirement for permission from Gitlab if it satisfies the previous conditions. It might be good to add a clause: > By applying a third party patch you agree to not hold Gitlab liable for any damages or misconfigurations that might happen by applying the patch. You acknowledge by applying a third party patch that it may fix your problem, introduce a new problem, or open a tear in the space-time continuum. I'm sure you get the idea. I'm tired and I just watched an episode of Doctor Who - so I had to include something related to time :).
- sytse 11y ago
  Thanks! We're hiring https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/ Our lawyer will also study this comment. I'm sure he'll discourage us from offering guaranties against tears in the space-time continuum. Have a good night.
  - sytse 11y ago
    Our lawyer reviewed it and made the following changes, https://dev.gitlab.org/gitlab/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/479/diffs https://dev.gitlab.org/gitlab/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/479/d... Thank again!