[Asterisk-Users] SysMaster and GPL Violation

[Joe Greco]

> Joe Greco wrote:
> > Really?  Wouldn't it be nice, then, if Digium explicitly stated that this
> > was their intention, in their little agreements?
> > 
> 
> [snip]
> 
> > That'd be the FSF calling this both "ethically tainted" and showing a loss
> > of "moral standing".  I'd be happy to put it to them to see if there is a
> > more specific opinion covering the case where a copyright holder actually 
> > forces contributors to sign away their rights.
> 
> Digium doesn't force anyone to do anything.  You are not required to 
> have your patches put into Digium's source tree. 

Which is, to say, the tree which is also the GPL'd Asterisk distribution.

> If you don't like the 
> terms of the license then you don't have to use Asterisk nor do you have 
> to contribute to Asterisk.

Asterisk is put forth as an "open source" telephony solution.

I've just shown that the FSF, the people who wrote the license in question,
seem to have a certain disdain for this particular use.

Your only answer is "so don't use it"?

I'll take that as a concession.

> Which of the two DIFFERENT Digium disclaimers do you have a problem with?
> 
> http://www.digium.com/disclaim.changes
> or
> http://www.digium.com/disclaimer.txt
> 
> Anyone that gets caught by suprize should have read the disclaimer more 
> carefully.

The first one, in particular, isn't very clear on what is happening "under
the sheets."  There are a number of open source projects which make you
sign various disclaimers, just to make sure that the contribution is clear
of any work-made-for-hire claims, etc.

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.