It's not even a suggestion. It's a promise of the way they intend to behave: > The founder of SQLite and all current developers have pledged to follow the spir

It's not even a suggestion. It's a promise of the way they intend to behave: > The founder of SQLite and all current developers have pledged to follow the spirit of The Rule to the best of their ability. They view The Rule as their promise to all SQLite users of how the developers are expected to behave. This is a one-way promise, or covenant. In other words, the developers are saying: "We will treat you this way regardless of how you treat us."