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No. "Restrictive" vs. "permissive" captures exactly the relevant information. If I look for some code to include in my project, I don't care if the license is "
by jakobe 15y ago
No. "Restrictive" vs. "permissive" captures exactly the relevant information. If I look for some code to include in my project, I don't care if the license is "copyleft" or "copyright" or whatever. I just need to know if including the code puts legal restrictions on my project.
For example, both GPL and CC-NC are "restrictive", but GPL is "copyleft" while CC-NC is not.
Also, "copyleft" would somehow suggest compatibility, but this is not the case: GPL and CC-SA are definitely not compatible, so "restrictive" would also be a good adjective in that case.
- lmm 15y agoThe BSD license prohibits you from falsely claiming authorship of the code it covers, so I guess that's going to be filed under "restrictive" too? Licenses are complicated, and what people want to do with code is complicated too; "restrictive" vs. "permissive" cannot be defined well. "copyleft" represents a well-defined, understandable concept; while not without edge cases, it makes it fairly clear what kind of license we're talking about.
- jakobe 15y agoIt might be difficult to find a formal and logically coherent definition of "restrictive" vs. "permissive", but I was thinking in more pragmatic terms. Like with porn, "I know it when I see it". As I see it, required attribution somewhere in the docs is not very restrictive. On the other hand, 20 pages of legal mumbo jumbo concerning distribution are restrictive.
- Natsu 15y ago> "I know it when I see it" Categories which are dependent on the user's own viewpoint are not suitable for a wide audience because the people are too different.
- scott_s 15y agoThose are still biased terms, similar to how people highlight the positive for characterizing their political stances. (I've never met someone who considered themselves "anti-life" or "anti-choice.") Someone could equally say that what you call "restrictive" licenses are "freedom preserving."
- jakobe 15y agoI don't understand how anybody can complain that "restrictive" is a bad adjective for a license that contains hundreds of restrictions. "Freedom preserving" sounds a bit like Orwellian double speak.
- scott_s 15y agoConsider the other viewpoint: "I don't understand how anyone could complain that a license which ensures that users maintain all freedoms to modify the code as 'restrictive.'" It's a difference of priorities. Which aspect do you think is more important? You value different things higher than others.