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Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program

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David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> writes:
> On 21/06/2020 20:52, Keith Thompson wrote:
>> David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> writes:
>>> On 19/06/2020 18:23, Malcolm McLean wrote:
>> [...]
>>>> However many people will shy away
>>>> from incorporating routine pieces of third party code into their projects
>>>> because of the licencing problem.
>>>
>>> True - that's why proper licencing is important.  People know where they
>>> stand with the GPL, BSD, or other proper licenses backed by copyright
>>> information.  They know when they can use the software in their own
>>> projects, and when they can't.  With "public domain" they have no idea
>>> (unless the software is backed up with extra information, such as for
>>> sqlite) and must avoid it completely.
>> 
>> I don't know what "extra information" you're referring to.  For sqlite,
>> the only thing I can think of is that its authors explicitly state that
>> they've released it to the public domain.
>> 
>> If there's any uncertainty about whether a given piece of code is in the
>> public domain, then incorporating it into a project could be risky.  Is
>> that what you were referring to, or is there something else?
>
> "Public domain" is a very tricky legal concept - and without copyright
> information, it can be particularly hard to establish the origin of
> code.  SQLite give extra information beyond saying "this is public
> domain" by their statements about the origin of the code.  They also
> offer paid-for "warranty of title" licenses for those that want
> additional legal security.
>
> I am no lawyer - but I'd be sceptical about using public domain software
> of any significance in a commercial project.  But I'm fine with
> copyright-based licenses, assuming of course they are a fit for the
> licencing needs of the project.

If you're saying that you're concerned about being certain that some
code really is in the public domain, then I think we're largely
in agreement.  I'm not convinced it's much of a problem, but this
has already strayed far enough from topicality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-domain_software lists a number
of public domain software packages.  (Including Rogue in the list
seems odd; current versions definitely aren't public domain, but
they may have been based on older versions that were.)  See also
CC0 and the "Unlicense".

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com
Working, but not speaking, for Philips Healthcare
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */

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A question about having a coauthor in a program The Real Non Homosexual <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2020-06-16 18:09 -0700
  Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Helm <nospam@invalid.please> - 2020-06-17 21:19 -0400
  Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-18 04:07 -0700
    Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2020-06-18 14:40 +0000
      Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-06-19 08:46 +0200
        Speaking only for oneself... (Was: A question about having a coauthor in a program) gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2020-06-19 06:58 +0000
        Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-19 09:23 -0700
          Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2020-06-19 18:30 +0000
          Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2020-06-19 21:33 +0100
            Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2020-06-19 21:19 +0000
            Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-19 15:26 -0700
              Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2020-06-20 05:39 -0700
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program The Real Non Homosexual <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2020-06-20 14:57 -0700
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2020-06-22 06:21 -0700
              Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-06-22 16:16 +0000
            Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2020-06-22 06:22 -0700
            Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-06-22 16:15 +0000
              Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2020-06-22 17:19 +0000
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-22 10:42 -0700
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2020-06-22 19:17 +0000
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-22 14:43 -0700
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2020-06-23 23:05 +0100
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-23 15:36 -0700
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program The Real Non Homosexual <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2020-06-23 20:18 -0700
          Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-06-21 16:33 +0200
            Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-06-21 11:52 -0700
              Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-06-21 22:31 +0200
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-06-21 13:45 -0700
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-06-21 23:01 +0200
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2020-06-21 22:12 +0100
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-21 16:18 -0700
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-06-22 08:43 +0200
                Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-06-22 03:39 -0700
  Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Anton Shepelev <antoff.txt@gmail.com> - 2020-06-18 19:03 +0300
  Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program Real Troll <real.troll@trolls.com> - 2020-06-21 11:16 -1000
    Re: A question about having a coauthor in a program The Real Non Homosexual <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2020-06-21 17:20 -0700
      [OT] Homosexual (Was: A question about having a coauthor in a program) the "Swampster" <fortytwo@xs4all.nl> - 2020-06-22 07:44 +0000
        Re: [OT] Homosexual Boris Dorestand <bdorestand@example.com> - 2020-06-22 07:47 -0300

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