4 ms·

I would be careful calling it the "least encumbering"- there are definitely shorter, easier to understand licenses with fewer restrictions (i.e. zero).

by hashkb 10y ago

WalterBright 10y ago
We investigated public domain, but that has international legal problems with it. Boost was the best solution.
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  Do you have any comment son international legal issues with public domain? Is that not recognized in some places?
  - WalterBright 10y ago
    It was not recognized in some countries, as I recall. Maybe things have changed since we decided on Boost a decade ago, but who cares. Boost works.
  - stonemetal 10y ago
    The main problem with the public domain is that there is no such thing as "the public domain". Each country has its own copyright law, with its own terms and conditions. What the public domain means in the US is not what the public domain means elsewhere i.e. Germany. In Germany an author has Moral Rights which the author is incapable of giving up and may only transfer as apart of their will. So rather than require all German contributors to be dead and have a will that grants their moral rights to the project, using a permissive license gets the same effect.
  - bachmeier 10y ago
    SQLite ran into trouble by using public domain, due to it not being recognized and for other reasons, and as a result will sell you a copy under a different license that guarantees your rights. https://www.sqlite.org/copyright.html https://www.sqlite.org/copyright.html
  - loeg 10y ago
    Several European countries do not recognize the ability of copyright holders to completely give up their copyright. So it needs a license of some kind.
    - floatboth 10y ago
      And that's why the Unlicense has a BSD-style "Anyone is free to…" clause.
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  Do you have any comment son international legal issues with public domain? Is that not recognized in some places?
- greenhouse_gas 10y ago
  What about CC0? I thought it was explicitly made to be a public domain replacement where there is no "public domain"?

I would be careful calling it the "least encumbering"- there are definitely shorter, easier to understand licenses with fewer restrictions (i.e. zero).

by hashkb 10y ago

I would be careful calling it the "least encumbering"- there are definitely shorter, easier to understand licenses with fewer restrictions (i.e. zero).

WalterBright 10y ago

We investigated public domain, but that has international legal problems with it. Boost was the best solution.

MichaelGG 10y ago
Do you have any comment son international legal issues with public domain? Is that not recognized in some places?
- WalterBright 10y ago
  It was not recognized in some countries, as I recall. Maybe things have changed since we decided on Boost a decade ago, but who cares. Boost works.
- stonemetal 10y ago
  The main problem with the public domain is that there is no such thing as "the public domain". Each country has its own copyright law, with its own terms and conditions. What the public domain means in the US is not what the public domain means elsewhere i.e. Germany. In Germany an author has Moral Rights which the author is incapable of giving up and may only transfer as apart of their will. So rather than require all German contributors to be dead and have a will that grants their moral rights to the project, using a permissive license gets the same effect.
- bachmeier 10y ago
  SQLite ran into trouble by using public domain, due to it not being recognized and for other reasons, and as a result will sell you a copy under a different license that guarantees your rights. https://www.sqlite.org/copyright.html https://www.sqlite.org/copyright.html
- loeg 10y ago
  Several European countries do not recognize the ability of copyright holders to completely give up their copyright. So it needs a license of some kind.
  - floatboth 10y ago
    And that's why the Unlicense has a BSD-style "Anyone is free to…" clause.
MichaelGG 10y ago
Do you have any comment son international legal issues with public domain? Is that not recognized in some places?
greenhouse_gas 10y ago
What about CC0? I thought it was explicitly made to be a public domain replacement where there is no "public domain"?